What if?

The rope snaps? The rocky ledge cracks away unexpectedly? The little rubber boat splits halfway across an ice-cold, 150ft deep underground lake? You trip on a railway sleeper and land face-first on the third rail, or worse, in the path of an oncoming train? A flash flood causes the storm drain to flood to the ceiling in a matter of minutes? A low boom above you signals the start of an unescapable avalanche? The rusty walkway and its unreliable 'safety' cable disintegrate into the gorge, taking you along for the ride. Boulders above you collapse into the narrow passage, at best killing you outright, at worst blocking you in? You lose your grip and are granted just enough seconds in which to contemplate the pointlessness of it all?

What if you go to elaborate lengths to avoid risks in life and make it all the way to 100 only to die anyway in the hospital bed you just messed, fluorescent strip lights and polystyrene ceiling tiles your last sight?

What if we really did try to avoid danger at all costs, embracing the efforts of those in authority to absolve themselves of liability keep us safe, thereby allowing our boundaries to be defined externally by someone else's rules, internally by fears we'd prefer to accept rather than face?

In the city and the mountains, above the ground and below it, the stories and images here detail determined attempts to push these boundaries and experience life in its rawest form.

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In the media

Photos, stories or the website have been covered, featured or condemned by, or the author has contributed to:

Red Bulletin, Drainor, Loaded, Fox News, Le Temps, Gothamist, Construction News, Broken Culture, Trek & Mountain, Trail, The Sheffield Star, The Scottish Sun, The News of the World and The Birmingham Sunday Mercury.

About the author

Broken Culture interview Feb 2011 link
Loaded feature June 2007 issue
Sewerfresh contributor link

Contact

Acknowledgements