Now at 70yrs even a 6ft ladder can be difficult but years ago rapelling on a rope off buildings/hillsides/ out of a helicopter or even climbing radio towers 100 to 700 ft without hesitation (personal reasons as a ham radio operator). Body and mind took charge guess it is time to embrace being a "old geezzer" ......................drill sgt.

quote:

Not sure if it was fear or common sense taking over

Lol, definitely common sense.

By your late 30s, early 40s you've been injured enough to know that hurting & recovering from broken bones sucks - coupled with the fact your wallet gets really light when you don't show up to work typically makes some realize that "this is pretty fucking dumb" and take precautions they might not have earlier in life.

I've had it as a kid. Every horizontal surface I'm standing that is one floor above ground and on that is open on any side even though it's barricaded by a railing or glass window, my sense is the floor is tilted toward that side and at any time I can slide towards the edge and crash through and fall to the ground below.

I used to rock climb recreationally. Now I take it super slow up and down ladders.

I think it's a growing awareness that my motor skills, athleticism, and reaction times are catching up to my age. Jumping from ladder height used to mean landing on my feet. Now, from that height, it would be the type of jarring that would probably leave a reverb in the ears and a metallic taste in the back of the mouth. So, now I'm more careful.

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Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I think it's a growing awareness that my motor skills, athleticism, and reaction times are catching up to my age...

This is me. Skydiving, climbing anything, rappelling with sketchy ropes while tied off on a van, I was fearless until my mid 30's. Then I noticed I was getting way more cautious. Now at 51 I hire all the "high work" done. Since the Christmas lights don't hang themselves, they haven't been hung in a while. That peaked roofline is a long way up.

Thought it was just me.
My problem with heights has gotten so bad I have bad anxiety just driving in the mountains on good roads.

I've been a skydiver for a long time, and that doesn't bother me at all. For me, there is a complete and total disconnect between fear of heights and skydiving.

But transitioning from an extension ladder to the roof and back makes me sweat. Moving around on a high-pitch roof scares the crap out of me now.

But I'll gladly hang off the strut of a 182 at 12K feet. What's the worst that could happen, I fall? lol. Totally different.

I fell off our roof, luckily onto a kinda soft pile of dirt, about 12ft of air before impact on my back. But I laid there for several minutes thinking what permanent damage I might have done to my body. I was about your age. I don't climb onto roofs anymore.

I stepped off a ladder to soon and missed the bottom two rungs. It screwed up my knee. I hate ladders.

We're not going to live forever. Wisdom comes with age for some of us...

I always felt uneasy in high places,it has gotten worse over time.
I recently had to work a few days with a lift platform, it scared me to death at first, but I did get used to it and After some time it was manageable.

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Originally posted by Bytes:
Always been afraid of heights. I guess because height can really hurt you.

That's not exactly true.

Height per se can't hurt.

It's the after-effects of falling from that height that actually do the damage, or rather, the violent cessation of movement caused by the impact from falling from the height.

Hate heights. Hate even going up eight feet to clean my only gutter. Won't climb 20 feet on my extension ladder to change the outside spots which I think the builder put in the location just to piss me off.

Meanwhile, got my initial pilot's license in 68 and made 7 skydiving jumps in college in Daytona.

I think height while surrounded by something calms the fears.

I used to be a climber. Hundreds of feet off the ground. Several rappels to get back down.

I feel your angst, I can't get near to an edge of a potential fall.

When the family was in Hawaii late last year, I about pulled my son off a cliff on Kauai.

Definitely!! Started about 20 years ago and has only gotten worse with age.

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Originally posted by goose5:
As others have stated age is a big factor. Acrophobia hit me hard about 10 years ago driving over Trail Ridge Road here in Colorado. Claustrophobia is also a problem, but I never know when or where that's going to hit. For some odd reason the going through the car wash really sets that off. Perhaps situations where no escape is the key. Large hospital elevators are no problem. Smaller elevators equals big problem.

Interesting, I can still run up ladders quite well but am more nervous doing it over concrete. Then, when I was younger, I could crawl under cars and work all day. I cannot do this now as the stomach starts twirling and I end up sick. Putting in a new starter motor a few years back, had me back out from under heaving. My friend put in the 2nd bolt for me.

I never developed a fear of heights but rather a fear of not being " secure " . I'm retired now so it's not an issue . I was able to go up in a manlift or a bucket truck with no issues because I was in an enclosed space . Make me climb an extension ladder and there would be finger marks in the last few rungs and I would get vertigo .

I found out I feared heights at a young age. I was at my mother's friend's downtown Houston high-rise condo. I remember I wanted to go out on the balcony, and I just couldn't do it physically. I got down on my hands and knees, but even then, I couldn't go out there on it. Just as other posters say, edges are probably what gets me.

Even so, those videos of guys servicing those super tall transmission towers drive me crazy. Almost paralyzing! I just don't know how they do it. Oh, and Tom Cruise messing around outside of the Burj Khalifa was also freaking me out in that Mission Impossible movie. Also, those high-rise builders must have stones of steal!

It's not the height that bothers me so much. It's the edges.

And it's just as bad when watching others near those edges.

The pucker has worsened over the last 40 years.

I used to ride a lot of dirt bike trails with just pure joy regardless of the edges. ALmost.

Well since a two year old thread got revived I'll add my 2 cents.

The older I get the stronger my sense of self perseveration kicks in.

I used to could walk the top plate of a 3 1/2 inch wall...

Now I sometimes stumble on flat level ground

Same for driving spirited.
I'm smart enough to realize my reflexes aren't near what they used to be.

A preacher addressing the youth group... trying to explain that at 18 years old they may not have the best judgement.
He commented that his first brain began to rattle at about age 30.
A kid ask... you mean you started loosing it that young?
Preacher replied... No son, thats when I first started gaining it.

Yes. I'm 61 and this the first year I can't get on my roof.

Heights have never bothered me much but about two years ago I was up on my roof cleaning out the chimney and I remembered looking around when I was done and feeling uneasy. First time I ever felt that before and I was actually wondering if I was going to be able to get down to the ladder. I skidded down on my butt and was fine. But that was the last time I did that. I'm almost 75 now so I would have been 73 then. Strange enough but I had no problem climbing up into my tree stands last hunting season. Go figure.

Oh, I now pay a guy to clean out the chimney for me.