If you had thought trekking a hill or river rafting is the kind of adventure people do in their vacation then this post on 10 most insane photos will surely change your mind.
Nobody is afraid of the heights, they’re just afraid of the fall
For a moment, you will think those people are not much fond of their lives or they’ve taken adventure too seriously. If looking down from the edge of a cliff or multi-storeyed building makes you feel dizzy and butterflies start running in your tummy then this post about most insane photos will definitely tie your tummy into knots! This is our disclaimer for the weak-hearted. The photos ahead are much mind-boggling. We’ve found 10 of the most death-defying photos from across the globe that can shock even some of our strong hearted readers.
While there are many who suffer from Acrophobia (an extreme or irrational fear or phobia of heights), there are also those brave hearts for whom having a “head for heights” is great. Some people consider their tolerance for heights to be a source of pride irrespective of the fact if they’re a thrill seeker or they work at high altitudes. Scientists consider the fear of heights to be an advantageous trait (note: this is different from acrophobia, which is an irrational and often extreme fear of heights).
The famous “visual cliff” experiment
This popular experiment was carried out by Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk in the 1960s to study depth perception in infants. Through this experiment, they could prove that even less than a year old infants had depth perception and were less likely to approach their mother if they had to cross a glass-covered chasm that might look like a cliff edge to them. Scientists proved that humans are not born with fear for heights but they develop this fear during the stages of infancy. Sounds cruel to put a toddler through this but we learnt a lot from it, didn’t we?
Around the world, right from Arizona and Chicago to New Zealand and China, there are adventure spots that can put any adrenaline junkie’s commitment to the test. Here are 10 most insane photos from such death defying tourist attractions around the world.
10 most insane photos that will make your jaws drop
1. Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk, Zhangjiajie, China
A breathtaking new skywalk has opened up in China for tourists that is nothing but a transparent curving path alongside a huge mountain. The Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk is a 100-metre-long pathway that clings to the side of Tianmen Mountain in the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan province in China.
China’s giant glass bridge hit with sledgehammer by BBC Technology Reporter.
It is 1.6 metres wide and offers tourists a death defying experience along with a jaw dropping view of the surrounding region and the vertical drop below.
The walkway features a total of 99 snaking turns that layer one after another. The Coiling Dragon Cliff walk is the third glass skywalk on Tianmen Mountain. The area also boasts the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge which is the world’s longest glass bottom bridge. It’s the greatest ‘Don’t Look Down’ challenge ever!
2. Titlis Cliff Walk, Engelberg, Switzerland
Considered to be Europe’s highest suspension bridge, this is the world’s scariest bridge at 9,000ft above sea level and is certainly a daring expedition to take for those thrill seekers. It took a period of 5 months to complete this suspension bridge. It is designed to withstand wind at speeds of 190 km/hr. Switzerland Tourism calls it “a high-adrenaline kind of new adventure”.
3,041 metres above sea-level, 500 metres off the ground and 150 heart-pounding steps – this is what TITLIS Cliff Walk is for you. Phew!! In order to cross this spectacular suspension bridge, you’ll need nerves as strong as the steel cables from which it hangs.
On arriving at the summit, you’ll have to cross an underground tunnel and on to the viewing platform at the south wall window. This is where you’ll start the suspension bridge that stretches to the ICE FLYER glacier chair lift station. The TITLIS Cliff Walk is just one metre wide and 100 metres long. The views into the abyss below are breathtaking!
The TITLIS Cliff Walk holds the record for being the highest suspension bridge in Europe. Entry to the Cliff Walk is free of charge but you pay your fears here.
3. Aiguille du Midi Skywalk or Step Into The Void, French Alps
Here’s an excerpt from the Lonely Planet on French Alps,
It took something as monumental as the collision of Africa and Europe to produce the Alps. Inconceivable forces buckled the land, driving it high into the sky, creating a place of enchantment and danger. What the geological millennia produced is a place where superlatives fail: colossal peaks thrusting upward into cobalt-blue skies, crevasse-fissured glaciers, tumbling crystal-clear rivers, sapphire lakes, and mountain passes blocked by snow for nine months a year.
High up in the French Alps, on the top terrace of the Aiguille du Midi mountain peak, sits a new five-sided glass structure called the Chamonix Skywalk, a tourist attraction owned and operated by the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc. The installation was opened to the public on 21 December 2013 and was inspired by the Grand Canyon’s glass skywalk. However, this skywalk has taken the concept to the next level. Instead of looking out over a railing, visitors can hover 1,035 meters above the valley in an enclosed transparent box, surrounded on all sides by custom-made 12 mm glass. If you have a genuine fear of heights, then this is your worst nightmare come true. But for nature lovers, it’s a scenery as breathtaking as any in the world.
This completely secured glass box offers the visitor a unique experience enhanced by 1000 meters of free air directly under their feet. You can admire the highest peaks in Western Europe from the glass box, and view the Bossons Glacier – with the greatest descent in Europe (4810m – 1440m), from a dramatic perspective! Step into the void is one of the 10 most insane photos that can make you check out your susceptibility to vertigo!
4. CN Tower EdgeWalk, Toronto, Canada
Toronto’s tallest attraction has adventure lovers taking a walk OUTSIDE – around the circumference of the roof! So, do you dare to test your limits and experience the thrill of a lifetime?
EdgeWalk is CN Tower’s most thrilling highlight in its history, and the first of its kind in North America. It is the world’s highest full circle hands-free walk on a 5 ft-wide ledge encircling the top of the Tower’s balcony on the 116th floor, which is 356 metres above the ground. Visitors walk in groups of six, while attached to an overhead safety rail via a trolley and harness system. There are no railings around the ledge either. It’s the scariest man-made cliff in the world. Trained EdgeWalk guides demonstrate the participants how to push their personal limits, allowing them to lean back over the world’s one of the tallest towers with nothing but air and breathtaking views of Lake Ontario beneath them.
Designed with the highest international safety and security standards in mind, EdgeWalk runs for 1.5 hours, with the outdoor walk lasting approximately 30 minutes. Tickets cost $225 CAD (plus tax) and include a keepsake video, printed photos and certificate of achievement (so that you can brag about it amongst your friends). Participants also receive a Tower Experience Ticket which includes access to the LookOut, Glass Floor, and SkyPod levels.
Here’s A review from a Google user, “An amazing experience and a must do activity in Toronto!!! They really are all about safety and making sure everything is triple checked. For example, they pull on your shoes to make sure they aren’t too loose & pick stones out of the bottom of your soles if there are any). You also take a breathalyzer so don’t drink before doing the EdgeWalk. It is expensive but it is worth it!!!”
5. Dinner in the Sky, various locations
Dinner in the Sky is a Belgian based first of its kind restaurant service which uses a crane to hoist its diners, table, and waiting staff 150 feet above the ground. Forbes magazine has tagged it as one of the world’s ten most unusual restaurants. Dinner in the Sky has criss-crossed the skies of 45 countries including some European nations Australia, Japan, India, Dubaï, South-Africa, Brazil, United States, Mexico, Canada and China.
This is an outlandish dining concept proposed by Hakuna Matata, a communications agency specialized in gourmet pleasures, in May 2006. This agency has partnered with The Fun Group, a company specialized in amusement park installations deploying cranes. They both joined forces and made a child’s dream (or nightmare) come true – a flying dinner table which has served as the venue for 22 Young European Restaurant Owners to don their white chef’s hat.
As of now, in India, you can have Dinner in the Sky only at Fly Dining in Bengaluru, where you sit at a table 160 ft above the ground, with the view of Bengaluru’s beautiful Nagavara lake below. So, buckle up and sit down for the most-exciting meal of your life!
6. Stratosphere Hotel, Las Vegas
Here is another one of the several most insane photos that you must have already seen on the Internet. There’s nothing quite like being thrust off the side of a building to round out your Vegas vacation. In true Las Vegas spirit, the Stratosphere Hotel boasts a magnificent set of rides right on the terrace of the building.
One is the X-Scream, an eight-person car that tilts out over the city and dangles the car perilously over the edge. The other is Insanity, a massive claw-like ride that extends 64 feet over the edge of the 900-foot tower and spins you in the air. So, staying at hotels no longer means just relaxing and lying in bed, does it?
7. Huashan, Shaanxi province, China Path of Death
Here is one of the most insane photos that will make your heart skip a beat. They say it is the world’s most dangerous hiking spot and let us be honest with you – there have been numerous casualties so far reported. The Southern peak of the Mt. Huashan is known as the Peak of the Wild Goose Landing Peak, where the famous Path of Death is found. This is one of the world’s most extreme mountain tours, stretching for about 12 km. There, the tourists meet the warning sign translated from Chinese as “No horses come back from here”.
At a dizzying height of 2,160 meters, following the smooth cliff curves, a narrow trail, thrown together from rough-planed timber is laid. The trail, hanging over an abyss, has no handrails or fences, only a chain nailed to the rocks to hold on to. The most desperate ones would only venture at setting foot on the trail, because once starting the path, there is no return: the path is so narrow that to diverge with the people following after is practically impossible. It is difficult to imagine that 700 years ago, the path along the almost vertical cliffs was knocked together by the hermits seeking immortality in the mountains.
8. Trolltunga Cliff, Hordaland County, Norway
Trolltunga is one of the most spectacular scenic cliffs in Norway as you can see the jaw dropping image of the Troll’s tongue. Trolltunga is situated about 1100 meters above sea level, hovering 700 metres above lake Ringedalsvatnet. The view is breathtaking.
The hike starts in Skjeggedal and goes through the high mountains, takes 10-12 hours (23 km in total to Trolltunga and return) and the ascent is about 900 meters. It is a long and hard hike. However be warned there are no railings to protect visitors at the Norwegian Trolltunga Cliff. People have accidentally fallen off, and no amount of Instagram likes is worth such daring.
9. Swing at the Edge of the World, Ecuador
If hiking was not enough then this death defying swing is one of its kind for the adrenaline junkies. La Casa del Arbol in Baños, Ecuador is more than just a sight. If you thought that riding a swing is for kids, think again. Here is the wildest swing in the world: “The Treehouse” known as La Casa del Arbol. This is the one swing where you don’t wanna push too far.
There is a seismic monitoring station set up on a tree deep in the Ecuadorian wilderness to observe Mt. Tungurahua, the nearby active volcano, from its precarious perch. While the tree house itself is a sight to behold, the real attraction is the crude swing hanging from one of the tree’s skinny branches. With no safety measures, the swing, which is only suspended by two ropes from a plank, arcs riders out into the air over the canyon. It is unclear where the swing came from – perhaps it was set up by a whimsical seismologist.
10. Grand Canyon Skywalk, Arizona
Last but not the least, here’s one of the most insane photos that can only excite the adrenaline junkies out there!
If CN Tower Edge Walk didn’t amuse you much then consider walking out to the edge of the skywalk on the glass-bottomed floor and snapping a photo at the railing. This breathtaking skywalk is located roughly 720 feet above the canyon floor, the ledge juts out directly over the vast, empty space. Many movies have been shot here and if you have watched ‘127 Hours’, you wouldn’t wanna be at this place.
Those were the top 10 most insane photos that would have made your jaws drop and your hearts skip a beat. At least one of the above mentioned adventures are risks worth taking, but nothing without a safety measure, for we have only one life!!
Happy reading!
Image Courtesy:
weknowyourdreams.com
obviousfun.com
nydailynews.com
momvoyage.hilton.com
fatindays.com
chamonix.com
tourismontheedge.com
flickr.com
dinnerintheskypv.com
whenonearth.net
pinterest.com
life-in-ecuador.com
boredpanda.com
travel.nationalgeographic.com
youtube.com
