Sheer Drops

[nowhereman]

About 30 years ago I was into skiing competitions, mostly dry slopes in the uk. This eventually led to a trip to the Italian alps. Now what I remember most about this trip as a 13 year old was being in a coach half way up a mountain with sheer drops and loving every second of it. The heights and massive ravines were pure exhilaration and enjoyment.
Now thirty years later I have found myself on similar roads. Once as a passenger,( once only and never again.) Next couple of times as the driver. The enjoyment that these roads offered as a teenager has now turned to sheer terror and I now tense up and and get a cold sweat just thinking about driving these roads. The fear that has developed has just made me miss out on visiting a friend in Portugal because he said there was no way of getting to where he lives without driving a few of these roads. This has now become very annoying and has got to the stage that planning a trip in europe involves checking whether the roads will have sheer drops or even if a very high bridge will be encountered. Bridges such as the Tyne bridge in the UK are no problem, the Forth road bridge however I can cross but have to concentrate hard on keeping calm and looking only straight ahead.
This never used to be a problem in younger days but it is now.
Has anyone else experienced a similar change or am I the only one that has difficulty stopping my a**e from twitching every time a bit of height comes into it.

 

[SunsetSeeker]

A**e twitching

With you all the way mate. Did some very scary driving in Greece last summer. Take the low road everytime.

 

[tresrikay]

I used to run adventure tours in my mid twenties and took old coaches and deckers up the most alarming of mountains.... even had the brakes fade coming down one in Greece, did the Dalmatian coats where safety barriers were painted stones, did three point turns on hairpins in Turkey..... and never thought even the slightest fear.......BUT NOW I also consult maps and research with google earth and even some of the highland roads make my palms sweat.... and going over the high bridge over the Loire at St Nazaire had my knees going to jelly.

I think that the older you get, the more aware you are of your own mortality and you just try to avoid the situations that could in any way imperil your longevity.

 

[Deleted member 207]

I used to run adventure tours in my mid twenties and took old coaches and deckers up the most alarming of mountains.... even had the brakes fade coming down one in Greece, did the Dalmatian coats where safety barriers were painted stones, did three point turns on hairpins in Turkey......

Totally off topic - but have you listened to the audio book "Top Deck Daze" about the startup of Top Deck Travel in the early 1970s and its transformation into Flight Centre? Great yarn.

 

[nowhereman]

It doesn't help much when the missus gets fustrated because I am now driving in first gear with a string of vehicles on my tail. Or the fact that my eleven year old son gets great satisfaction in telling me to look over the side and see the clouds below us, whilst I am trying hard to remember to breath out and sweating like a peadophile on a school bus.

 

[tresrikay]

Totally off topic - but have you listened to the audio book "Top Deck Daze" about the startup of Top Deck Travel in the early 1970s and its transformation into Flight Centre? Great yarn.

I worked for Top deck for 2 seasons, I have some great photos of the trips, I then moved on to Tracks travel and coaches. Top deck have a forum for old crews and passengers so I get updated now and again. heady days..... heady daze.

 

[lenny]

I would think that It,s natural to have a fear of these potentially dangerous situations, I certainly do, on the other hand someone that doesnt fear them could be dangerous without even realising it.

I remember once driving a large crane (Weighing 70 ton) over the Forth road bridge, left hand drive, and glancing down at the water below, my Ar*e was biting the seat all the way over

 

[Deleted member 2636]

I used to go climbing and mountaineering but these days think twice about going up four rungs on a ladder

I know that this an old post but what's the answer? Drugs? Hypnotherapy?

 

[maingate]

Forgive grumpy, he has not been on here for a while, otherwise he would know that nowhereman no longer posts on here.

Did you know that the American skyscrapers were mostly built by native Americans (or Red Indians, as we used to call them). They can walk the steelwork at any height as they have no fear of heights at all.

I have worked at height on construction jobs (before health and safety ruled). It took me a couple of days to get used to heights. The first morning I was inching along on my backside. By the end of the week, It hardly bothered me at all.

Always remember that falling off a high structure never hurt anyone.

It`s the sudden stop at the bottom that does all the damage.

 

[Deleted member 2636]

I am going to investigate Hypnotherapy.
When I saw the bridge at St Nazaire I had a savage cramping in the nether regions. My pal, who was in the Royal Marines went over and said that people were slowing down to admire the view - the B^%*&)*ds. He was screaming by then although his wife was loving every minute of the trip.

 

[caspar]

I'm very similar to you! In my early teens and twenties I did loads of serious rock climbing, snow and ice climbing and parachuting loving every minute of it. Now I'm absolutely petrified of heights!

I'm sure to some extent the more you're exposed to them, the more you get used to them, but frequent exposure may reduce, but not get rid of real terror.

With me I'm sure it's because I'm much more aware of the dangers now, whereas when I was younger I never really thought about the possibility of anything going wrong.

 

[Dezi]

Forgive grumpy, he has not been on here for a while, otherwise he would know that nowhereman no longer posts on here.

Did you know that the American skyscrapers were mostly built by native Americans (or Red Indians, as we used to call them). They can walk the steelwork at any height as they have no fear of heights at all.

I have worked at height on construction jobs (before health and safety ruled). It took me a couple of days to get used to heights. The first morning I was inching along on my backside. By the end of the week, It hardly bothered me at all.

Always remember that falling off a high structure never hurt anyone.

It`s the sudden stop at the bottom that does all the damage.

Strictly speaking Maingate its the Mohawk tribe that has this reputation. The phenomena was first noticed, I believe, by Wolfe & the British troops while laying seige to Quebec.

Woolfe being the chap who scaled the heights of Abraham & won the battle.

Sorry for being an anorak.

Dezi

 

[Zozzer]

As terrified of heights of heights that I, and having seen images of the Grimsel and Furka Passes in Switzerland I decided I had to face my demos head to head, I simply had to drive over the high alpine passes of Switzerland.

My first attempt in 2008 was a terrifying experience, low cloud blanketed the top of the mountain, and meeting a coach on an hairpin bend and having to reverse downhill on the Furka really scared the c**p out of me. This was not part of my dream. The Grimsel faired no better as I suffered serious brake fade due to over heating on the five mile decent and had to stop (eventually) to cool off the brakes.

In June 2010 I decided (without telling the Mrs ) to try again, only this time I was going in the opposite direction from Brienz enroute for Andermatt. More importantly, we went across after lunch after the low cloud had burnt off by the heat of the sun. This time no problems occurred, it was extremely enjoyable and spurred us on to tackle the San Gotthard pass

Here's som of my pics.

http://www.pbase.com/zozzer/ch_2008

http://www.pbase.com/zozzer/ch_2010