El Camino del Rey
This could be a real-life stair of Cirith Ungol.
BrianIs
AtYouReal Life Stair of Cirith Ungol?
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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
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Real Life Stair of Cirith Ungol?
My sister sent this to me.
El Camino del Rey
This could be a real-life stair of Cirith Ungol.
BrianIs AtYou
El Camino del Rey
This could be a real-life stair of Cirith Ungol.
BrianIs
AtYou
All of my nieces and nephews at my godson/nephew Nicholas's Medical School graduation. Now a neurosurgical resident at University of Arizona, Tucson.
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Primula Baggins
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Utterly terrifying, but I couldn't look away. Wow.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Impenitent
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ArathornJax
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Simply amazing . . . . thanks for sharing that.
1. " . . . (we are ) too engrossed in thinking of everything as a preparation or training or making one fit -- for what? At any minute it is what we are and are doing, not what we plan to be and do that counts."
J.R.R. Tolkien in his 6 October 1940 letter to his son Michael Tolkien.
2. We have many ways using technology to be in touch, yet the larger question is are we really connected or are we simply more in touch? There is a difference.
J.R.R. Tolkien in his 6 October 1940 letter to his son Michael Tolkien.
2. We have many ways using technology to be in touch, yet the larger question is are we really connected or are we simply more in touch? There is a difference.
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ToshoftheWuffingas
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Impenitent
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Chutzpah?! It struck me as insane arrogance! To be looking through a view finder rather than focussing wide-eyed on the two-inch beam spanning thousands of feet...
The guy must think he has nine lives.
Still...I'd like that kind of chutzpah if it allowed me to experience such exhilaration.
The guy must think he has nine lives.
Still...I'd like that kind of chutzpah if it allowed me to experience such exhilaration.
Mornings wouldn't suck so badly if they came later in the day.
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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
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With some of the smaller digital cameras now it is possible to place the camera in position (such as strapping to a belt) and go about your business. I've done this on bike rides (handle bars) and in the car (set in place on dashboard) to get moving shots.
I imagine the same could be done on foot, and a well-practiced camera handler would be well able to maneuver the camera into position before a difficult move.
Just for fun I thought I'd post this other link:
Most Dangerous Roads in the World
#5 in that link is an especially interesting comparison to El Camino del Rey--an alternative approach to a "foot path".
It is a tribute to the skill of the Numenoreans that Cirith Ungol was still in such good shape after thousands of years, when El Camino del Rey has deteriorated so much in a hundred years.
It is strange in a way that such ancient constructions have lasted so long in Tolkien's world, when real world stoneworks seem to decay more quickly.
Is this a characteristic of Middle-earth or an oversight by Tolkien? Is the difference that Cirith Ungol was carved from "living rock" as Tolkien might put it, whereas something like El Camino del Rey is concrete and stone, with concrete having a quicker tendency to decay?
BrianIs AtYou
I imagine the same could be done on foot, and a well-practiced camera handler would be well able to maneuver the camera into position before a difficult move.
Just for fun I thought I'd post this other link:
Most Dangerous Roads in the World
#5 in that link is an especially interesting comparison to El Camino del Rey--an alternative approach to a "foot path".
It is a tribute to the skill of the Numenoreans that Cirith Ungol was still in such good shape after thousands of years, when El Camino del Rey has deteriorated so much in a hundred years.
It is strange in a way that such ancient constructions have lasted so long in Tolkien's world, when real world stoneworks seem to decay more quickly.
Is this a characteristic of Middle-earth or an oversight by Tolkien? Is the difference that Cirith Ungol was carved from "living rock" as Tolkien might put it, whereas something like El Camino del Rey is concrete and stone, with concrete having a quicker tendency to decay?
BrianIs
AtYouAll of my nieces and nephews at my godson/nephew Nicholas's Medical School graduation. Now a neurosurgical resident at University of Arizona, Tucson.
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ArathornJax
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I don't think I would try doing that one. Incredible shots!
1. " . . . (we are ) too engrossed in thinking of everything as a preparation or training or making one fit -- for what? At any minute it is what we are and are doing, not what we plan to be and do that counts."
J.R.R. Tolkien in his 6 October 1940 letter to his son Michael Tolkien.
2. We have many ways using technology to be in touch, yet the larger question is are we really connected or are we simply more in touch? There is a difference.
J.R.R. Tolkien in his 6 October 1940 letter to his son Michael Tolkien.
2. We have many ways using technology to be in touch, yet the larger question is are we really connected or are we simply more in touch? There is a difference.
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Impenitent
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Part of the problem is that it is so exposed - it's not very thick, and there's not much under it. So, water can get in there and do some serious damage. Gravity does the rest.
Presumably, the Numenoreans were clever enough to build their structures with drainage built-in, so they could reduce erosion that way. The main causes of erosion are going to be wind, water, gravity and chemical. This walkway looks as though it suffers from all of them (except possibly wind, which is worse when sand is in the mix). Chemical is going to be a mess when you've got rusty steel rebar around.
If you build with solid hard rocks, you're going to find that they last much longer than an amalgm of soft rocks. I don't think Tolkien specifies what type of stone is used in most constructions - he's certainly a lot more vague than he is with the flora!
But nothing is weather-proof in the long run; time will "grind high mountains down." That's why Moria, even though dwarf-built, shows quite a few places where the structure is crumbling or broken. The tower on Amon Sûl is long gone. He has Gimli point out the old and new stonework in Minas Tirith to show that the construction of the city is not static. In general, Tolkien is fair with nothing lasting indefinitely without maintenance. There are a few exceptions - the road the Rohirrim take (that Ghân-buri-Ghân knows about) is through a wooded area, and it is not clear why the trees have not taken over the road in the intervening years. The stairs of Cirith Ungol would have been built during the Third Age, but still are very old. The fact that they were in such good shape suggests that Sauron maintains them. It is, after all, the quickest way to get from Minas Morgul to the Tower just on the other side of the mountain.
Incidentally, Tolkien understood erosion quite well. I once went through the Hobbit and pulled out ten passages that described different aspects of it for use with an earth science class. Even the Carrock is geologically sound
(Well, if you allow for glaciers rather than giants.)
Presumably, the Numenoreans were clever enough to build their structures with drainage built-in, so they could reduce erosion that way. The main causes of erosion are going to be wind, water, gravity and chemical. This walkway looks as though it suffers from all of them (except possibly wind, which is worse when sand is in the mix). Chemical is going to be a mess when you've got rusty steel rebar around.
If you build with solid hard rocks, you're going to find that they last much longer than an amalgm of soft rocks. I don't think Tolkien specifies what type of stone is used in most constructions - he's certainly a lot more vague than he is with the flora!
But nothing is weather-proof in the long run; time will "grind high mountains down." That's why Moria, even though dwarf-built, shows quite a few places where the structure is crumbling or broken. The tower on Amon Sûl is long gone. He has Gimli point out the old and new stonework in Minas Tirith to show that the construction of the city is not static. In general, Tolkien is fair with nothing lasting indefinitely without maintenance. There are a few exceptions - the road the Rohirrim take (that Ghân-buri-Ghân knows about) is through a wooded area, and it is not clear why the trees have not taken over the road in the intervening years. The stairs of Cirith Ungol would have been built during the Third Age, but still are very old. The fact that they were in such good shape suggests that Sauron maintains them. It is, after all, the quickest way to get from Minas Morgul to the Tower just on the other side of the mountain.
Incidentally, Tolkien understood erosion quite well. I once went through the Hobbit and pulled out ten passages that described different aspects of it for use with an earth science class. Even the Carrock is geologically sound
(Well, if you allow for glaciers rather than giants.)