The video I've reposted here of someone walking the insane Camino del Rey was on my Google+ feed with the comment "Scared of heights? Don't watch this".
I actually think the fear necessary to do justice to this video clip goes far beyond simple fear of heights, and could be described as "fear of walking along a crumbling bridge suspended high above a rocky gorge and falling to a horrible death". In other words I think it's a rational fear, and not a phobia. I was able to watch the video without being unduly terrified, since the cameraman's Sony minicam evidently wasn't reduced to tiny fragments of plastic and metal, therefore my assumption was that I wouldn't be viewing a tragic death. But I was a bit bewildered about why anyone lacking a strong death wish would do this.
If you can't parse the new phobia I've coined in response to the video, it should be read "Crumbly Bridge Screech Splat ophobia".
Oh, wow! I've actually been looking for this video. I remember seeing it a while back, but couldn't remember where it was taken (and therefore couldn't come up with successful search keywords). My fear of heights, or perhaps my Crumbly-Bridge-Screech-Splat-ophobia, made me cry the first time I saw it.
Posted by: Berni | April 27, 2012 at 06:16 PM
This morning was the first time I saw the video. The path is actually called Del Caminito del Rey, and it's near Malaga in Spain. The Spanish government attempted to block people from walking it after two tourists were killed in one year, but people just go around the barriers. Since the cameraman passes several other people on the path, I assume it attracts a steady stream of crazy people.
Posted by: Larry Johnson | April 27, 2012 at 06:33 PM
I was there last summer with a guide. We wore helmets and harnesses and were basically all the time attached to the rock. But it was still a breathtaking hike. (Btw, the guy who filmed the above video fell to his death later in Himalayas...)
I made my own video of the hike using a helmet camera, check it in my blog entry:
http://mondomemento.blogspot.com/2011/07/el-camino-del-rey-between-rock-and-high.html
Use the tag under the blog post to check couple of other entries including a rappelling video and more photos.
Posted by: LP | May 03, 2012 at 06:32 AM