Jan 6th, 2017: Swing of Death.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Somewhere along the line you must have seen a picture of this swing.

For the past few years, Carlos Sanchez, a volunteer with the Military Geographical Institute, has been
assisting a group of a volcanologists by observing and recording the activities of the Tungurahua volcano
from a lonely tree house he had built on a green mountaintop near Baños, Ecuador, less than a mile away
from the volcano's crater. From this vantage point, Sanchez watches for potential pyroclastic flows that
can rapidly move downslope towards the city of Baños, located at the foot of the volcano, 8 km (5 miles)
to the north. Sanchez is equipped with a radio via which he can send alerts to the Observatory so that
the inhabitants can be evacuated on time.

Sanchez’s family often visited him on his tree house on weekends, and to keep them entertained, he decided
to build a simple wooden swing dangling from a branch that swung out over the edge of the mountainside.
Then someone saw it and posted photos of this amazing swing on the internet, and now this place is
swarming with tourists.

Visitors from all around the world trek to the mountaintop to ride the swing, enjoy picnics and leave notes in
the tree house guest log. The variety of languages in the logbooks speak of how far and wide the swing’s
fame has travelled. There are messages in Spanish, English, German, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.
To date, Carlos has ten books filled to the brim.

The media has given different names to the swing. “The swing at the edge of the world”, and “the swing
of death” are the most common. Although it appears to hang over a dangerous cliff, the swing actually
hangs over a steep slope that rolls down a distance of about 100 vertical feet. Still, you don’t want to
fall off that thing.

Originally there was only one swing on the tree house, and it hung from a branch. Now out of safety
concern, a steel beam was added from which the swing hangs now. A second swing was added as well.
There is also a rudimentary seat belt now.

Damn tourists spoil everything, bet his kids don't even get a turn anymore.

Link

[monster]

awesome location for a roundabout........

[footfootfoot]

mornington crescent?

[Snakeadelic]

We need to find a Cellarite who's travel-friendly and not absolutely terrified of heights to go check that thing out...Hell, we just need a travel-friendly Cellarite to go start checking a bunch of these international topics out...

[footfootfoot]

I'd be happy to do it if anyone's got a pile of frequent flier miles

[infinite monkey]

I'll go with you.

[footfootfoot]

I'll bring snacks.

[Gravdigr]

I'll scrape y'all off the canyon floor, and try to get yer chunks back to your families.