Discussion
What's the most scared you've ever been?
Have heard many stories over the years, people being robbed at gunpoint in S. Africa, medical emergencies etc.
I really, really dislike heights but have parachuted, climbed mountains (quit halfway up North Ridge of Tryfan though!) & ski'd numerous times.
Like many I've had some very close shaves while driving, the worst when the driver of a 5 Series BMW had a heart attack & I very narrowly avoided a head on collision with my son in the car (Clio 172, wouldn't have fared well).
Have been threatened with a knife twice, managed to talk my way out of it both times luckily.
During a karate grading (many years ago) I genuinely thought my instructor was going to kill me while sparring!
Probably the scariest though was going into the mortuary at the hospital to see my Dad, my sister insisted I went to see him, I will be forever grateful to her for that.
Have heard many stories over the years, people being robbed at gunpoint in S. Africa, medical emergencies etc.
I really, really dislike heights but have parachuted, climbed mountains (quit halfway up North Ridge of Tryfan though!) & ski'd numerous times.
Like many I've had some very close shaves while driving, the worst when the driver of a 5 Series BMW had a heart attack & I very narrowly avoided a head on collision with my son in the car (Clio 172, wouldn't have fared well).
Have been threatened with a knife twice, managed to talk my way out of it both times luckily.
During a karate grading (many years ago) I genuinely thought my instructor was going to kill me while sparring!
Probably the scariest though was going into the mortuary at the hospital to see my Dad, my sister insisted I went to see him, I will be forever grateful to her for that.
Just with me...
1) Parasailing when my wing went kept on going over me and the "takeoff launch" became a "run off the edge of a cliff", only saved when my canopy caught on a tree stump, saving my from a 600ft fall. The previous person who had done this had died the week before.
2) Very nearly died hiking solo on a Swiss mountain
I was scared in the second one. As in "writing a last note in my diary scared" as it stretched over about 4 hours. I didn't have time in the first one to be scared, but I was afterwards.
With others...
1) Holding my wife hand during a crash c-section and feeling utterly powerless and scared.
2) Engine plane blowing up mid flight and an emergency landing. Ditto to powerless feeling and fear.
1) Parasailing when my wing went kept on going over me and the "takeoff launch" became a "run off the edge of a cliff", only saved when my canopy caught on a tree stump, saving my from a 600ft fall. The previous person who had done this had died the week before.
2) Very nearly died hiking solo on a Swiss mountain
I was scared in the second one. As in "writing a last note in my diary scared" as it stretched over about 4 hours. I didn't have time in the first one to be scared, but I was afterwards.
With others...
1) Holding my wife hand during a crash c-section and feeling utterly powerless and scared.
2) Engine plane blowing up mid flight and an emergency landing. Ditto to powerless feeling and fear.
Lying on a gurney in A&E shaking violently and uncontrollably from viral meningitis with several consultants, docs and nurses trying to get IV lines into me and blood out of me at the same time, heart rate flucutaing by the second from 171bpm to 32bpm being told by the lead consultant I was likely going to die
I was petrified
I was petrified
Having my first HIV test after being careless with a lady friend.
Being followed by a guy who tried to grab my watch in Marrakech even when he knew I'd spotted him.
Finding myself way beyond my capability in an off piste gully in the Alps. I chickened out and climbed out of it.
Being passenger on the back of a bike with a friend who was showing off.
Seeing a ghost right outside our front door after seeing Halloween III. Turned out to be a large black balloon with a white skeleton on it.
Disturbing a demented cricket ball sized spider when forklifting a load of pallets.
Being followed by a guy who tried to grab my watch in Marrakech even when he knew I'd spotted him.
Finding myself way beyond my capability in an off piste gully in the Alps. I chickened out and climbed out of it.
Being passenger on the back of a bike with a friend who was showing off.
Seeing a ghost right outside our front door after seeing Halloween III. Turned out to be a large black balloon with a white skeleton on it.
Disturbing a demented cricket ball sized spider when forklifting a load of pallets.
Thorpy said:
Every time I go rock climbing, especially leading a climb, its all head game, I get the full body Elvis shakes!
Also Kudos for giving Tryfan north ridge a go, its pretty a pretty intimidating scramble (it gets easier twards the top).
Coming back down for me. I'll stand at the top of a climb thinking jumping is less stressful than climbing down. I really struggle lowering myself back over the edge.Also Kudos for giving Tryfan north ridge a go, its pretty a pretty intimidating scramble (it gets easier twards the top).
can't remember said:
Thorpy said:
Every time I go rock climbing, especially leading a climb, its all head game, I get the full body Elvis shakes!
Also Kudos for giving Tryfan north ridge a go, its pretty a pretty intimidating scramble (it gets easier twards the top).
Coming back down for me. I'll stand at the top of a climb thinking jumping is less stressful than climbing down. I really struggle lowering myself back over the edge.Also Kudos for giving Tryfan north ridge a go, its pretty a pretty intimidating scramble (it gets easier twards the top).
Surprises me how many rock climbers admit to not liking heights, some admitting they are scared at the top of climbs!
And for Tryfan, my mate is a mountain goat & assured me it would be Ok, it f'ing wasn't! It really annoyed me for years as it's the only time I've really bottled it & turned back. We did go & walk up Snowdon though (no idea what path)
Driving in Wales. Nearly ended up head on with a tractor on a single track country road through nothing more than my own stupidity. I was having a fantastic time in an engine-swapped Mk4 Fiesta with no ABS. Read the road all wrong and came upon said tractor coming the other way with some very pointy apparatus on the front. Braked, locked up, released, slid round said tractor in a luckily-placed farm gateway, styled it out by downshifting and flooring along the next straight, then slowed down a lot when I realised what an absolute fool I'd been. My driving changed a great deal from that day forward.
Diving in Tenerife. On my PADI advanced, final day off Tabaiba. Before I was in the water my fin strap broke. My dive instructor helped me fix it with some cord, and we went in anyway. Descending, I couldn't equalize my right ear and the agony was utterly indescribable. I couldn't tell whether ascending was making it better or worse but eventually I cleared it and carried on down to about 20-25 metres to enter a wreck that's been sunk there for diving on.
Shortly after I entered the wreck my fin came loose. It turns out you just can't make any useful headway with only one fin (well, I couldn't), so I started trying to repair it again. I'm breathing fairly hard by this point and when I looked up I realised I had no idea where 'up' was. None. I started trying to find an exit but the first hatch I tried led deeper into the ship and my dive instructor had already exited. Trying to get back into the previous chamber my tank caught on something behind me and when I checked my air I was now at about 55 bar and still over 20 metres below the surface - normally your ascent starts when you've still got 100 bar remaining and you'd never have less than 50 bar when you're out of the water at the end.
Luckily I made it out of the ship and buddy-breathed all the way back to shore but for about 2 minutes I fully believed I was going to drown and had started to feel pretty comfortable with the idea.
I'm an incredibly careful diver now
Diving in Tenerife. On my PADI advanced, final day off Tabaiba. Before I was in the water my fin strap broke. My dive instructor helped me fix it with some cord, and we went in anyway. Descending, I couldn't equalize my right ear and the agony was utterly indescribable. I couldn't tell whether ascending was making it better or worse but eventually I cleared it and carried on down to about 20-25 metres to enter a wreck that's been sunk there for diving on.
Shortly after I entered the wreck my fin came loose. It turns out you just can't make any useful headway with only one fin (well, I couldn't), so I started trying to repair it again. I'm breathing fairly hard by this point and when I looked up I realised I had no idea where 'up' was. None. I started trying to find an exit but the first hatch I tried led deeper into the ship and my dive instructor had already exited. Trying to get back into the previous chamber my tank caught on something behind me and when I checked my air I was now at about 55 bar and still over 20 metres below the surface - normally your ascent starts when you've still got 100 bar remaining and you'd never have less than 50 bar when you're out of the water at the end.
Luckily I made it out of the ship and buddy-breathed all the way back to shore but for about 2 minutes I fully believed I was going to drown and had started to feel pretty comfortable with the idea.
I'm an incredibly careful diver now
I used to go caving. Glad I did it, but glad I'm not doing it anymore. Looking back: no one knew where we were exactly (pre- mobiles so no leaving messages with folk)
doing 8-10 hr pull through trips, where you take all yr gear with you- so descend a pitch, undo yr ropes and carry on- hoping cave isn't sumped or collapsed and you can continue and get out.
done a few blind swims in sumps- to pop up into chambers (no scuba gear)- you rely on caving books and knowing its a short stretch.
a lot of caving is descending and then coming back up the same way: I can recall a system starting to fill quickly and we made the right call to head out- the water was getting far stronger and of course many descents are back up into the force of a waterfall.
Oh and into old abandoned mines.
scares me a lot now, looking back. I guess now there'll be FB pages and allsorts rammed with latest info on a stretch of cave etc before you start a trip.
Oh and amazing LED lights. not filament bulbs, dying battery packs and and naked flame carbide lamps stinking the place out and illuminating nothing.
Jeez, I'm glad I'm out in one piece.
doing 8-10 hr pull through trips, where you take all yr gear with you- so descend a pitch, undo yr ropes and carry on- hoping cave isn't sumped or collapsed and you can continue and get out.
done a few blind swims in sumps- to pop up into chambers (no scuba gear)- you rely on caving books and knowing its a short stretch.
a lot of caving is descending and then coming back up the same way: I can recall a system starting to fill quickly and we made the right call to head out- the water was getting far stronger and of course many descents are back up into the force of a waterfall.
Oh and into old abandoned mines.
scares me a lot now, looking back. I guess now there'll be FB pages and allsorts rammed with latest info on a stretch of cave etc before you start a trip.
Oh and amazing LED lights. not filament bulbs, dying battery packs and and naked flame carbide lamps stinking the place out and illuminating nothing.
Jeez, I'm glad I'm out in one piece.
I don't really feel fear, I suspect I may have some kind of personality disorder but it's an emotion I don't really have. I've had knives pulled on me several times, rolled cars, been stuck on a cliff 100ft up but felt perfectly calm throughout. When I rolled my 3 series I remember thinking how cool it was being upside down and enjoying watching the fence as I rolled. I'm trying to get my psychiatrist to explain why this is, but I'm getting nowhere.
However, I became a father for the first time a week ago, and QuickMoose's story makes me think that having a child can probably bring out fear and terror in even the most emotionally detached of people.
However, I became a father for the first time a week ago, and QuickMoose's story makes me think that having a child can probably bring out fear and terror in even the most emotionally detached of people.
Taking my 6 month old son to hospital after I thought he had stopped breathing, in his sleep.
Seeing him laid on an examination table totally unable to help and fearing the worst.
It's by all accounts for young babies to go into a state of what I can only describe as hibernation.
He was fine and is now 7 years old and very active.
Seeing him laid on an examination table totally unable to help and fearing the worst.
It's by all accounts for young babies to go into a state of what I can only describe as hibernation.
He was fine and is now 7 years old and very active.
austinsmirk said:
I used to go caving. Glad I did it, but glad I'm not doing it anymore. Looking back: no one knew where we were exactly (pre- mobiles so no leaving messages with folk)
doing 8-10 hr pull through trips, where you take all yr gear with you- so descend a pitch, undo yr ropes and carry on- hoping cave isn't sumped or collapsed and you can continue and get out.
done a few blind swims in sumps- to pop up into chambers (no scuba gear)- you rely on caving books and knowing its a short stretch.
a lot of caving is descending and then coming back up the same way: I can recall a system starting to fill quickly and we made the right call to head out- the water was getting far stronger and of course many descents are back up into the force of a waterfall.
Oh and into old abandoned mines.
scares me a lot now, looking back. I guess now there'll be FB pages and allsorts rammed with latest info on a stretch of cave etc before you start a trip.
Oh and amazing LED lights. not filament bulbs, dying battery packs and and naked flame carbide lamps stinking the place out and illuminating nothing.
Jeez, I'm glad I'm out in one piece.
I'm generally a "try anything once" type of person but fk that.doing 8-10 hr pull through trips, where you take all yr gear with you- so descend a pitch, undo yr ropes and carry on- hoping cave isn't sumped or collapsed and you can continue and get out.
done a few blind swims in sumps- to pop up into chambers (no scuba gear)- you rely on caving books and knowing its a short stretch.
a lot of caving is descending and then coming back up the same way: I can recall a system starting to fill quickly and we made the right call to head out- the water was getting far stronger and of course many descents are back up into the force of a waterfall.
Oh and into old abandoned mines.
scares me a lot now, looking back. I guess now there'll be FB pages and allsorts rammed with latest info on a stretch of cave etc before you start a trip.
Oh and amazing LED lights. not filament bulbs, dying battery packs and and naked flame carbide lamps stinking the place out and illuminating nothing.
Jeez, I'm glad I'm out in one piece.
amancalledrob said:
Driving in Wales. Nearly ended up head on with a tractor on a single track country road through nothing more than my own stupidity. I was having a fantastic time in an engine-swapped Mk4 Fiesta with no ABS. Read the road all wrong and came upon said tractor coming the other way with some very pointy apparatus on the front. Braked, locked up, released, slid round said tractor in a luckily-placed farm gateway, styled it out by downshifting and flooring along the next straight, then slowed down a lot when I realised what an absolute fool I'd been. My driving changed a great deal from that day forward.
Diving in Tenerife. On my PADI advanced, final day off Tabaiba. Before I was in the water my fin strap broke. My dive instructor helped me fix it with some cord, and we went in anyway. Descending, I couldn't equalize my right ear and the agony was utterly indescribable. I couldn't tell whether ascending was making it better or worse but eventually I cleared it and carried on down to about 20-25 metres to enter a wreck that's been sunk there for diving on.
Shortly after I entered the wreck my fin came loose. It turns out you just can't make any useful headway with only one fin (well, I couldn't), so I started trying to repair it again. I'm breathing fairly hard by this point and when I looked up I realised I had no idea where 'up' was. None. I started trying to find an exit but the first hatch I tried led deeper into the ship and my dive instructor had already exited. Trying to get back into the previous chamber my tank caught on something behind me and when I checked my air I was now at about 55 bar and still over 20 metres below the surface - normally your ascent starts when you've still got 100 bar remaining and you'd never have less than 50 bar when you're out of the water at the end.
Luckily I made it out of the ship and buddy-breathed all the way back to shore but for about 2 minutes I fully believed I was going to drown and had started to feel pretty comfortable with the idea.
I'm an incredibly careful diver now
The most scared I've been in recent years was diving too. I was an experienced diver with at least 150 dives under my belt. We were diving in a trench at about 25m with a very strong current, so you had to just go with it most of the time. I stopped near the end to take photos of I remember not what, but it must have been good. The other two guys I was with didn't notice and carried on to the end of the trench. I set off after them and saw them a distance away to the right, so I tried to swim straight towards them against a very strong current. I just about reached them, but had built up a big oxygen deficit, so I was breathing very hard, depleting my supply quickly, but still not getting enough air. I had an instinctive desire to pull out my reg, presumably because I was not getting enough air and I had this thing in my mouth restricting the air flow. I felt a strong sense of panic, but fortunately had just enough presence of mind to realise the danger and tell myself to calm down and slow my breathing. I reached the other guys, showed them my air gauge and we surfaced. Diving in Tenerife. On my PADI advanced, final day off Tabaiba. Before I was in the water my fin strap broke. My dive instructor helped me fix it with some cord, and we went in anyway. Descending, I couldn't equalize my right ear and the agony was utterly indescribable. I couldn't tell whether ascending was making it better or worse but eventually I cleared it and carried on down to about 20-25 metres to enter a wreck that's been sunk there for diving on.
Shortly after I entered the wreck my fin came loose. It turns out you just can't make any useful headway with only one fin (well, I couldn't), so I started trying to repair it again. I'm breathing fairly hard by this point and when I looked up I realised I had no idea where 'up' was. None. I started trying to find an exit but the first hatch I tried led deeper into the ship and my dive instructor had already exited. Trying to get back into the previous chamber my tank caught on something behind me and when I checked my air I was now at about 55 bar and still over 20 metres below the surface - normally your ascent starts when you've still got 100 bar remaining and you'd never have less than 50 bar when you're out of the water at the end.
Luckily I made it out of the ship and buddy-breathed all the way back to shore but for about 2 minutes I fully believed I was going to drown and had started to feel pretty comfortable with the idea.
I'm an incredibly careful diver now
I can't think of any moments I've genuinely thought I was going to die, I can think of only moderate fear at best.
Recently I was persuaded to ski the Aguille Rouge in Les Arcs (on my second week ever skiing), it was blizzard conditions at the top and I have a catastrophic fear of heights. For those that don't know it's extremely high, the start section is about the width of a single track road with just some flimsy nets between you and an enormous cliff. It was busy, icy and just generally awful but once you've started down you can't turn round and go back, unamused would be an understatement of my feelings on that one.
I had a brief flash of fright on a French Autoroute once, cruising uneventfully along then suddenly ahead I spot the front of an articulated lorry in Lane 1 facing me. A second later I saw it was parked backwards on a trailer being transported by another lorry and all was well.
I love climbing but due to the aforementioned issues with heights and my lack of faith in other people and ropes I stick to bouldering. Big athletic moves, problems which rarely take more than a minute and squishy mats are much more my style and suit my physique better anyway. Caving and particularly cave diving is utterly incomprehensible to me, I can't think of many worse deaths than drowning underground in pitch blackness or being stuck underground where absolutely nobody can help you or would ever find you.
Recently I was persuaded to ski the Aguille Rouge in Les Arcs (on my second week ever skiing), it was blizzard conditions at the top and I have a catastrophic fear of heights. For those that don't know it's extremely high, the start section is about the width of a single track road with just some flimsy nets between you and an enormous cliff. It was busy, icy and just generally awful but once you've started down you can't turn round and go back, unamused would be an understatement of my feelings on that one.
I had a brief flash of fright on a French Autoroute once, cruising uneventfully along then suddenly ahead I spot the front of an articulated lorry in Lane 1 facing me. A second later I saw it was parked backwards on a trailer being transported by another lorry and all was well.
I love climbing but due to the aforementioned issues with heights and my lack of faith in other people and ropes I stick to bouldering. Big athletic moves, problems which rarely take more than a minute and squishy mats are much more my style and suit my physique better anyway. Caving and particularly cave diving is utterly incomprehensible to me, I can't think of many worse deaths than drowning underground in pitch blackness or being stuck underground where absolutely nobody can help you or would ever find you.
I almost fell out the side door of a Lynx in Northern Ireland, negative G followed by a sharp turn. Both doors were open and I was sitting on a pile of day sacks trying to keep my weapon pointed at the floor while toppling backward with nothing to grab, if the pilot hadn't flared to land I would have rolled straight out backward and fallen 80 feet.
My stomach still flips over when I think about it.
My stomach still flips over when I think about it.
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