Official Off Topic Discussion Thread #1

[Ulu]

I believe I shot this about 2005. We were maybe a bit low as we fly into Yosemite from the north.
You have to fly at least 2000 ft above the rim to be legal.
That big rock is of course Halfdome, rising over 3000 ft from the valley floor.

This is not the famous Ansel Adams view, as of course he never had a Sport plane at his disposal.

I took this with my first digital camera, a $99 Fugifilm.
I'm going to make another thread for these old photos.

 

[Fat Homer]

Never worked in construction before -- though I did sell ice cold Kool-aid to construction workers one summer while in elementary school. I was killing it until the (very nice and apologetic) site Foreman had to put a stop to it due to obvious S&H concerns; at least he was cool enough to let the guys buy all my final supply lol.

But in relation to your question I have jumped from the 61st floor of a building (~765ft) and done similarly from only ~165 ft. Personally I found the shorter height even more intimidating while standing at the edge: the ground is closer and the possible consequences (same in either case as beau1990 alludes) feel all the closer and more real.

When i was still young and dumb with friends who worked security on building sites i did get a chance to check out some of the sites, although i definitely tried to never venture too high incase of an accident + the fact that the higher floors tend not to be as finished...

I also once got the chance to get in a crane on a reasonably high site and looking through the glass floor gave me the shivers... so really couldnt imagine what it would be like up any higher, especially when the crane operator told me stories of how it would sometimes sway in high winds...

 

[islandguy11]

I once read a story where this guy wanted to go bungie jumping and got a enough of those bungie cords to just equal the length of the drop of a cliff. They tied them all together then jumped. Splat. He forgot that bungie cords stretch....

Btw, tbh this sounds quite a bit like some urban myth kind of story -- not that there aren't Darwinian types out there, but one doesn't just grab some bungie cords (not very easy to procure proper ones), tie them around your feet and jump off something, it requires special foot harnesses, more gear for properly anchoring the cords, etc.. Anyone who went to the trouble to arrange all that, not to mention securing would surely know that the cords stretched lol -- even holding them in your hand and it's easy to feel they're not like normal rope.

Do you by chance have a link or further reference to this story you read or were you just kidding?

In any case, modern bungie jumping got its inspiration from natives who have been doing 'land diving', or vine jumping for centuries. Pretty interesting: a little miscalculation and you're hurtin' for certain:

 

[fishhead0103666]

I do not have a link to it as it was so long ago and I can not find it anymore. Feel free to disregard what I said if you wish as I can not verify it.

 

[islandguy11]

I do not have a link to it as it was so long ago and I can not find it anymore. Feel free to disregard what I said if you wish as I can not verify it.

Yeah for sure gonna have to do that with this one buddy, sounds quite dubious at best. Likewise a simple google search would surely hit on such an incident, but it doesn't insofar as I could see. No biggie, just like we try to prevent misinformation in our hobby, those into extreme sports try to do the same with theirs.

 

[fishhead0103666]

Isn’t there a rock wall near your work you said you wanted to climb? Or did climb? I think I remember you saying that.

 

[islandguy11]

Isn’t there a rock wall near your work you said you wanted to climb? Or did climb? I think I remember you saying that.

Yeah this one, but still haven't got around to it; frankly been spending most all of my free time on my fish/tanks, barely enough left over for short home workouts, not really going out climbing. Also there are now tenants on both sides, I would have to go very early in the morning not to be possibly troubled by any office or cafe staff, so I'm waiting for a bigger holiday like around New Years.

 

[fishhead0103666]

I don’t imagine that the builders planned for people climbing on the wall, you aren’t worried about it coming out of place?

 

[Hendre]

I don’t imagine that the builders planned for people climbing on the wall, you aren’t worried about it coming out of place?

Also thought about that

 

[islandguy11]

I don’t imagine that the builders planned for people climbing on the wall, you aren’t worried about it coming out of place?

Though this is certainly a consideration, in this case no, from what I can see and feel when fingering the rocks at lower levels the wall is actually built quite strongly and the rock pieces seem to be held firmly in place (not that it's out of the question maybe a smaller piece might come out).

Insofar as surface quality buildering is often safer, more dependable than out on real rock. Also when climbing w/o ropes you habitually try your best to make sure that if any of your points of contact were to break off (or you slipped), you'd still be able to keep yourself on the wall with the other 2 or 3 points of contact.