The Scariest Hiking Trail in the World

[Mari333]

I sat through this video and had to close my eyes a few times. This is a vertigo nightmare. (in Spain).

http://www.break.com/index/scariest-hiking-trail-in-world.html

[DS1]

1. As Will Smith would say

AWW HELLL NAWW!

[conscious evolution]

3. That would be an understatement. nt

[flvegan]

2. I couldn't get 10 seconds into that.

You'd need a chopper to get me off of that, cuz I ain't hiking it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. I had to fast forward. Watching this was nerve wracking. OMG!

[semillama]

4. I didn't think it was that bad until the end

when the guy was walking on the beam to continue. Otherwise, the trail had level surfaces, steps and even hand rails.

[Mollis]

8. I read that you can use a harness

so I think that is what he had on the beam parts

[Mari333]

5. here is where its located and the info as to what it is

I guess a few people fell and went splat back in 2000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey

and some pretty scary pics...


http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=17487

[XemaSab]

28. The view from below...

[Lorien]

7. Methinks the Spanish parks service

is in need of a little extra funding.

[Happyhippychick]

9. NFW on that hike. Have you seen the glass bridge at the Grand Canyon?

[Mari333]

15. yes I saw that and there is NO WAY I would walk out on it

hell Im afraid of standing on a chair.

[lizerdbits]

10. I think it looks pretty cool

Though I'd have to go with the harness mentioned above because my balance isn't that good for those beam parts.

[XemaSab]

11. NO WAY

Standing on a chair in the kitchen is scary enough.

Team fear of heights wouldn't make it 10 feet up that thing. :scared:

[deucemagnet]

12. I thought you were going to show the Huashan Trail in China

For your safety, please hold on to the rusty chains at all times. :P

On edit: More

[fizzgig]

13. i'm getting stressed out just looking at those pics

eff that, my friend :P

[Mari333]

14. jeezus!!!!! nt

[XemaSab]

29. .

[Pierre.Suave]

16. Looks fun

I would do it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Sweet Jesus on a pogo stick! OMG! I got vertigo just watching that.

Reminds me of some of the scenery in Myst.

:scared:

[Stuart G]

18. ..........is....the one you are lost at at night..no way of getting back...nt

[pokerfan]

19. Not too bad

Then again I've fallen into crevasses while climbing. (I was roped up at the time.)

Remember when walking the beam you can use the wall to brace yourself.

[Xipe Totec]

20. While holding the camera?...

[Pierre.Suave]

21. I bet the camera

was attached to a helmet and not handheld.

[pokerfan]

24. One hand holds the camera,

the other hand uses the wall for balance. Or a helmet camera as jasonc suggested.

[Xipe Totec]

27. Yea, that's how I would do it...

NOT! :scared:

[Shell Beau]

22. I am way too clumsy for that shit.

[HughBeaumont]

23. Sorry, I like my 900 foot cliffside walkways to have hand-railings and be hole-less, TYVM.

Not just this, but the entire EXTREME! sports/activities thing . . . I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I prefer doing things where there's, you know, NOT a better-than-average chance of dying or paralysis involved.

[leftyclimber]

51. You have better odds of dying in a car accident.

Of course, you also have better odds of driving a car every day.... ;)

[Redneck Socialist]

25. Pretty cool.

At first I was like, "eh, what's the big deal there's stairs and all." Then about a minute and a half in you get to the part where the walkway had big holes in it and I'm like "Ohhhhhh Kaaayyyy, now I get it." Still looks like fun though.

[backscatter712]

26. Seemed OK at first...

After all, I'm a Coloradan, and I've hiked trails with steep slopes before.

Then the movie got to the part where there were holes in the walkway, and the only way across was balancing on a rusty steel beam. It looks like a lot of the trail had a steel cable running along the wall, so you could hook yourself to it with a rope with a carabiner.

But not all of it. I distinctly saw a few parts where you had to tightrope-walk on a beam, where you moved far enough away from the wall that you couldn't put a hand on it and balance, there was no safety line you could hook yourself to, and several hundred feet of thin air between you and the rocks and water below.

That's when I say "Stop the ride, I want to get off!"

It looked a lot like a few of the platform-jumping areas of Half Life 2, except you don't respawn at the last save point after you slip and fall like Wile E. Coyote...

[XemaSab]

30. The book "Death In Yosemite" gave me a new least-favorite way to die

Falling into the stream upstream from a thousand-foot waterfall. :scared:

[begin_within]

37. There are so many sudden ways to die there,

yet it is the most beautiful place in the world. Beauty and danger go hand in hand and that is perfectly illustrated by Yosemite. See my Half Dome post below.

[XemaSab]

39. Correction: There are so many STUPID ways to die there.

Having read the book, it looks like most people who ate it there were JUST NOT PAYING ATTENTION.

I blame the Disneyfication factor. You make it seem like a giant outdoor playground, and people will treat it as such.

[pokerfan]

42. Yep, I assume you read ANAM

http://www.amazon.com/Accidents-North-American-Mountaineering-Williamson/dp/1933056061

I used to read it fairly regularly until I hung up the ice ax for good.

[XemaSab]

45. I've heard of it, but I don't read it

I am TRULY afraid of heights. Going down stairs makes me dizzy. :P

[pokerfan]

46. So many novel ways to screw up in the mountains

One of my favorites was from about 20 years ago on one of the Cascade volcanoes. Two guys were descending and decided to glissade which is French for sliding down the mountain sitting or standing. I'm thinking it may have been Mount Baker as there are a couple of places where this technique is ideal. Needless to say this is potentially dangerous and can only be safely attempted in certain situations: not on a glacier, no cliffs, no obstacles, safe run-out in case you can't self arrest, steep enough but not too steep, etc.

One thing you are never supposed to do is glissade while wearing crampons as it's a good way to break an ankle or leg. You are also supposed to space yourself out so there aren't collisions. Well, these guys didn't get the memo and took off in a sitting glissade one following the other. They didn't break any ankles but the guy in the lead did catch his crampons in the snow which caused him to suddenly stop. The guy behind him slams into his back feet first and one of the crampons punctured one of his kidneys. Bleeds out right there.

Then there's always my personal favorite: rappelling right off the end of a rope.

[leftyclimber]

50. Two most common accidents, statistically:

1. Climbing unroped
2. In over one's head

I'm particularly fed up with #2. #1 is a judgement call, and sometimes you just screw up.

[leftyclimber]

49. Remember that this is the place where people ask the rangers what time they turn off the waterfall

at night.

And, my favorite, "At what altitude do elk turn into moose?"

Average time of visit to Yosemite: 45 minutes.

We are so appallingly out of touch with nature...

:banghead:

[PfcHammer]

31. I'd have some clean underpants in my

pack for that hike. :P

[underpants]

32. *exhales*

I have no fear of heighths but that was way too much

[fortyfeetunder]

33. I got nauseated just watching this.

Dayum. Something I'd try if I were terminally ill...if I didn't make it, wouldn't matter!

[KitchenWitch]

34. Why did I click on that.

:scared:

[astral]

35. I absolutely can't believe people do that just for fun

now, if you had to hike through there to save your life, well, personally I'd rather not bother to save my life that's how bad I am skeered of heights.

[begin_within]

36. What about good ol' Half Dome?

Almost a mile straight down.

[XemaSab]

38. Half Dome is for wimps

I know people who've done it 50 times.

As of 2006, there have only been 4 people who ate it on the Half Dome trail, and 2 of them died of heart attacks. Only 2 people have ever gone ass-over-teakettle there.

[Mari333]

40. I saw Half Dome back in 86

and there were people PERCHED ON THE SIDE IN SLEEPING BAGS ASLEEP, JUST HANGING THERE.
I couldnt believe it. hanging by thin wires. nuts. nuts nuts nuts.
to me,childbirth was extreme sports.

[XemaSab]

41. There are two ways to do Half Dome:

Climbing and hiking.

The climbers are nuts. :P

[leftyclimber]

53. Yup, those thin wires are called nuts, all right.

Been there, done that.

:hi:

[leftyclimber]

52. Yanno, you wouldn't catch me dead on the Cable Route.

I hate that shit.

Get me on the Regular Northwest Face, on the other hand, and I'm on fire. :loveya:

[quakerboy]

43. I have gained a healthy respect for hights as I have aged.

But that brought back some memories. Imagine doing that on sand at an angle where the main thing keeping it from all sliding over the cliff is the little stickyness from the ocean spray rising many many feet as it smashes into the rockface of the cliff far far below you. Oh... no trail, and definitely no guide wire. That was almost too much for even the indestructible 12 year old version of myself. Nowdays.. no chance.

And yet I will occasionally eat the hot dogs from 7-eleven at 2 am. What can I say. You have to pick your battles.

[Jamastiene]

44. No fuckin' way.

If I was ever forced on something like that, I hope the people below me all had umbrellas and the people behind me all had the patience of a saint. Otherwise, we'd ALL be in for a bad day.

Maybe the best bet would be me saying, "Y'all go on ahead and I'll bring up the rear." *quickly opens map for driving direction for end of hiking trail and drives there*

[ikojo]

47. NO...NO....NO.....

OMG!!!Along the way the hiker actually encounters OTHER PEOPLE!!!!NO WAY would I do this! I am PETRIFIED of heights.

[mainegreen]

48. I knew what this was before I watched it. Never in a zillion years.

Me love flat, solid ground.

[Liberal Veteran]

54. The person who does it on a skateboard while high on pot.

I will worship as a minor deity for the rest of my days.

Of course, I wouldn't do it sober with a net and and cable.

That's some messed up trail.