MtnMan
Diamond Member
- Jul 27, 2004
- 8,750
- 7,866
- 136
Age has brought on a couple of phobias that are counter to what I used to do.
Claustrophobia - as a volunteer firefighter, I have been through confined space rescue training. One of the exercises is to crawl through a maze with twists and turns and tight spaces, all while wearing full turnout gear and an air pack. Some places required removing the air pack from our back and pushing it in front of us, all while breathing only SCBA air, and in total darkness. Physically challenging, and took a little planning at each obstacle, but never had any reaction to the extremely tight spaces. Some guys lost their shit going through this.
Several years ago I crawled into my daughter's crawl space to check something on her furnace... uh... got it done but vowed to never do that again.
Acrophobia - also part of firefighter training is ladder training, repelling out of a 5th floor window, etc. As part of ladder training to build confidence we would extend a 35' ladder, and stand it straight up in the middle of a field, with 4 ropes as guy-wires, held by other firefighters. Climb up one side, get to the top, lock your legs in, and lean back. Then over the top (when the top rung is between your legs, it looks much further than 35' to the ground) and climb down the other side. I was often the first to do it to demonstrate the process. Climb a 105' ladder of a ladder truck... the legs really feel the burn as you get near the top, but one hell of a view from the top.
Last trip up a ladder to the roof on my house... tense, and getting back on the ladder to get down, I had to talk myself into it. I sure as hell didn't want to call the fire department to get my ass down. 24' Extension ladder for sale.
Claustrophobia - as a volunteer firefighter, I have been through confined space rescue training. One of the exercises is to crawl through a maze with twists and turns and tight spaces, all while wearing full turnout gear and an air pack. Some places required removing the air pack from our back and pushing it in front of us, all while breathing only SCBA air, and in total darkness. Physically challenging, and took a little planning at each obstacle, but never had any reaction to the extremely tight spaces. Some guys lost their shit going through this.
Several years ago I crawled into my daughter's crawl space to check something on her furnace... uh... got it done but vowed to never do that again.
Acrophobia - also part of firefighter training is ladder training, repelling out of a 5th floor window, etc. As part of ladder training to build confidence we would extend a 35' ladder, and stand it straight up in the middle of a field, with 4 ropes as guy-wires, held by other firefighters. Climb up one side, get to the top, lock your legs in, and lean back. Then over the top (when the top rung is between your legs, it looks much further than 35' to the ground) and climb down the other side. I was often the first to do it to demonstrate the process. Climb a 105' ladder of a ladder truck... the legs really feel the burn as you get near the top, but one hell of a view from the top.
Last trip up a ladder to the roof on my house... tense, and getting back on the ladder to get down, I had to talk myself into it. I sure as hell didn't want to call the fire department to get my ass down. 24' Extension ladder for sale.
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