Lisez moins, vivez plus.
(Read less, live more.)

[protest slogan, '68 revolt]



60 feet in the air, straddling a beam of the trellis bridge where I seem to spend my every weekend these days, a radical theory was formed by The Professional Bridge Climber. She postulated that stability was the same whether our eyes were closed or open, and that climbing using your eyes was, in fact, more dangerous than climbing just by feel. She put this theory into practice right then and there, disappearing into the bridgeworks with her hankercheif over her face, expecting me to follow. I feared for my life and did nothing more than wrap a bandana around my eyes and glide my hands over the rusted steel that was already within reach.

These photographs document some of my textural observations of the bridge at that moment:





On the next climb, one week later, I worked up the gall to test this theory for myself...

I took a few deep breaths, considered what I've accomplished in my life so far, then tied on my blindfold. Using touch alone, I navigated myself from one side of the bridge all the way to the other. It was actually a lot less harrowing than it looks.




So I must conclude that touch is, in fact, a superior way to climb -- you trust nothing without first feeling whether you are stable. However, it is a slow process, and it does tend to frighten the photographer some.