lampwort

Just browsing through Youtube and came upon 3 circus acts where the performer wore heels during the act.

The first one using low heels of about 2 inches on a rola-bola. Normally a difficult balancing act in normal shoes:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhOMHclGKrY

The 2nd one is a tight wire act where the young lady puts on heels of about 3 inches and walks the wire by searching for the wire with her toe and then puts the heel down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYROX7Jycfg

The 3rd is also on the tight wire but this time the heels of about 3 inches are slimmer and she puts the heel on the wire first. It looks quite precarious to me and you can see her concentration is intense. A superb display of poise and balance.

Not quite the same, but a good display of wire-walking in ballet pointe shoes. The action starts at about 2.00 into the video. The time will come when someone will be filmed doing this most difficult act in ballet-boots

I wonder how many other films are on youtube showing heels being used for unusual feats of balance and poise?

This morning, with the help of Topsy, I tried out my new red 6.5 inch stilettoes with 1.75 in platform. I went done the rocky path I have used several times on stilts and found the path in heels was far more difficlut than on stilts. I then tried them on a bumpy & slippery sloping rock pavement, and had great difficulty maintaining my balance. Youtube should have my attempts later today on Topsy's YouTube account "heelsstiltsskates"

OK,

so this is indoors, and it is not on my peg stilts. The ceilings are too low for them.

5" heeled thighboots, worn with 2ft high dura stilts.

Yes they are easy to walk around in.

We have to keep Jen happy

BB

Those Dura stilts look good with the large flat foot. How about trying them on the quad-skate plates which I let you have? There should be plenty of room to secure them to the skate-plate

I tried on my Father's Secretary's 4 inch stilettoes in the late 1950s after watching her struggling to cope with coming down a steel staircase with steel heel tips on a moving bus. That was the start of my lifelong interest.

Om, I don't get it. Wouldn't it be more fun to attempt jumping the grand canyon on a jet powered skateboard?

Sorry, I am being serious. Like when I am stiltwalking, my ambition is to able to successfully go either on stilts or on very high heels where I can comfortably go in sneakers. That includes all things slippery or difficult.

I was just wondering if there was anyone else out there with similar ambitions, or am I unique?

No, rjpilotswife you are not a freak! You are the sensible one. In my platform heel wearing days, I never wore heels when driving. At 6ft tall and long legs, I considered driving in platform-heels dangerous to other road users due to lack of leg room and my inability to brake quickly in an emergency, so I always wore flats or stilettoes in the car and took my plats with me. Outdoors my maximum plat height was 2 inches. The reason being very thick platforms are very dangerous on any surface other than clean and dry areas. A small pebble or even a matchstick under a platform of 4 inches can produce a violent wobble that can injure an ankle or produce a heavy fall. I know, I have been there. Having said that, I love the comfort and increase in height of a 2 inch plat on any surface, even if I am feeling adventurous and go off-road on them.

I am always careful and wear knee,wrist and elbow padded protection when attempting these excursions, just as I do when on stilts. Do a search on YouTube for "Lampwort" and see my thrills & spills on the stilts (very,very high heels!!!) I will have loads of fun, many falls. I will do some video and i WILL try not to break anything. Thanks for your concern

Not having had any heels for several years, I am about to purchase a new pair. I am thinking about a pair of red peep-toe sling-back sandals with 7 inch stilettoe heels and 2.5 inch plats. I will be taking them where heels should not go - such is my interest. I will attempt to use them on roller skates, peg stilts and will attempt to walk them over smooth rounded rocks on river beds and the beach. I will film my attempts and put them on YouTube for you all to comment on. It will take a couple of months to get going, so watch this space!!!

Not having had any heels for several years, I am about to purchase a new pair. I am thinking about a pair of red peep-toe sling-back sandals with 7 inch stilettoe heels and 2.5 inch plats. I will be taking them where heels should not go - such is my interest. I will attempt to use them on roller skates, peg stilts and will attempt to walk them over smooth rounded rocks on river beds and the beach. I will film my attempts and put them on YouTube for you all to comment on. It will take a couple of months to get going, so watch this space!!! I have been persuaded to do this by my half-cousin. She is "topsy" elsewhere on this Forum. She is 13 years younger than me, but has the same interest and has already taken heels where heels should not go, but has never been filmed. I am sure you will see some good falls

Topsy is one of my relations. She is computer illiterate and does not possess one at home (Her Mother has a non-internet desktop running Windows95 with a 4GB hard drive instead of a typewriter). She is back home at the moment and I do not expect to see her again until November. I am sure she will have more tales to tell and possibly remind me of some of the daring/wild/silly things we did together when she was a teenager on heels, skates and stilts. She had no fear and I had extreme ambitions. Watch this space!!

I just love your stories. I wonder if there are any more out there who are too shy to record their adventures. Keep you stories coming. I find them very interesting and are giving me ideas of what to try next. Please tell us more about your rock-hopping. Keep enjoying the adventures but please be careful!

There are not many people around who enjoy these adventures the way we do. Do you do what you do in public or in private?

Name:Lampwort Age:61 Gender:Male Location:UK Occupation:Retired bus driver Height:6ft Weight:17 stones Shoe size:10 UK What's your favourite heel style:Stillettoes What's your favourite shoe style:Sandals/Open Toe Do you wear your heels outside:Whenever possible privately What is: (a) Your favourite heel height:5" with hidden micro platform ( Your highest heel height:7" with one inch platform How often do you wear: (a) Your favourite heel height:All the time indoors - whenever possible outside ( Your highest heel height:Whenever I feel I want to be on stilts but cannot use the stilts Do you wear socks, hose, stockings or bare feet with your shoes:ankle socks Anything else you wish to add: Heels are my natural step to my 20inch and 24 inch peg stilts. When I want to get high and cannot use stilts for any reason, out come the heels

Am I the only one that struggles to wear very high heels in summer heat?

I feel somewhat frustrated as I had recently reached the point where I could wear my favorite 7inch peep toe boots around the 'hood for six hours at a time but when it's hotter than 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees celsius), the heat turns me into a sweaty mess in the heels. The struggle will be to maintain my practice and take advantage of cool nights till autumn.

Anyone else share this struggle?

-MJ

Here in the UK, we seldom get temps that high, but when it gets warm here (above 70 degrees) many girls do have difficulty with sweaty feet and often can be seen carrying shoes and going barefoot

Wonderful.

Another suggestion is to tie a piece of rope to each ankle to hobble your gait. Not too short but once you feel the pull on your ankle, you automatically try to compensate. This leads to a pull on the other ankle. Before you know it, you're on the floor. Utter helplessness but so much fun.

Good idea, but could be dangerous if you feel yourself falling, and the rope stops freedom of movement to regain balance. I can imagine the adrenalin rush during attempted recovery

Has anyone tried them with wedges, or is it the same result?

Wedges can be very difficult especially with smoothsoles. Its just like walking in ordinary male shoes exceot that you need an awful lot of extra ankle support. Feels like you are walking on stilts on ice. Slush I could manage but snow where footprints have frozen to patches of ice are very difficult. My best shoes for snow & ice were 6" steel heeled stilettoes with commando soles. There were super to use even down steep hills.

If you could consider stilts as a form of high heels, how about 4ft high stilts downhill on a skateboard. Extreme I would think but it has been done. Have a look at these crazy stilters in the UK going up a climbing wall on stilts and coming down ramps on stilts on skateboards.

http://www.flamingfun.com/shows/Stilts/crazystiltsskateboarder.htm

http://e.imagehost.org/0731/fre555e3netro_25.jpg

Cute

[HAPPY NEW YEAR]

Happy New Year!

I bet she was not moving!!!

Pics, proof, please?

Sorry no pics of heels on stilts but here are two links to a guy who has quad-skated on stilts on roller disco rink for 30 years and has survived

http://stiltwalker.com/Stilt%20Skates001.jpg

http://stiltwalker.com/Stilt%20Skates_cr.jpg

And this guy's comments when I managed to contact him:-

Hi Roy

Thanks for your interest As my Pics show, I used standard quad skate plates and put the stilt in between the boots and plates. I did use LABEDA HUGGER wheels for maximum control. I skated on them for about 30 yrs before my feet grew, and I decided not to buy new skates ( at about $700 to $800 for plates and boots) just to keep doing it at age 60+. I'm 6' 4", 200 lbs, and on the stilt skates, I was 7' 9.5", without the hat

I was able to just get up and skate on them - don't know why, just could. I always wore, and still wear, protective gear. If I had not, I'd not be skating now, due to all the falls I took, and still take today.

I went with standard quads, as InLines were not around then. Most all the stilt skaters I'm aware of, mostly Ice skaters, used leg braces from the skate boot up to the knee - to improve stability and control. I just used S.P.Terri Ice Boots

When I fell off the stilt skates, I would get one foot upright again, then sort of craw up that leg. It's kind of hard to describe, and looked rather wierd. Allways got big laughs and stares

I was able to go forward, backward, some simple spins, jumps, and some foot work on them. Simplified versions of what I do normally

I FloorGarded part time on them, in most of the 21 Rinks I worked in over time. I could mange about 1.5 hrs max time skating on them at a time. 45 mins was my average.

Hell, besides being so tall, they weighed almost 9 lbs apiece

I only went outdoors on special ocassions, like for Parades, in my Uncle Sam outfit. Going on slanted or rough surfaces was quite dangerous, being on indoor flat floors was risky enough

This is not something I would recommend anybody doing, it's difficult to set up properly, dangerous and difficult to do. Very few folks should even try. It's not cheap either, to make the stilts, buy the strong boots, plates and find the proper wheels. You could easiely get it all together for lots of $$$$$$$$$, and then find you could not handle them

In the Pic with the young lady, she is 5' 3" tall

I found Bill's site a short time ago and sent in my Pics, so now I'm on his site too

Harold A. Schreiber, Jr

I remember a few years ago in Nairn in Scotland where I was driving buses, a young lady was getting ready to get off the bus at the bus station. She saw the thin layer of slush on the pavement where the plough had been, so she took off her heels and put on her black patent flats. She got off the bus and promptly went flat on her butt as the smooth soles/heels took control. So she got up, staggered with difficulty back to the bus and asked if she could come on to change her shoes, which I allowed her to do. She then put back on her black stilettoes of about 5 inches. Got off the bus and walked smartly away as if there was nothing wrong!!!!

As an ageing heel worshipper, I find girly jeans are great to enhance a super figure, but I get very upset when the jeans are so long that they touch the ground and hide what often sounds like a super heel show. If people want to wear jeans and heels, then please wear boots and tuck the jeans inside the boot. I often feel that girls hiding their heels with jeans or trousers love their heels but are afraid of what others might think and as such are afraid to show them off

Patentheel:-)

Of course it all depends on how well you take care of them and how often you wear them and in what kind of weather conditions.

Cheers---

Dawn HH

I believe nothing looks better than highly polished natural leather if the shoes/boots are black or brown, but other colours look just as good in glossy man-made material, after all who has seen a yellow,blue or red cow?

I think black courts with red heels give you a superior look, and all white an inferior look. I do not know, it is just personal preferences and open to argument.

It is the same with heels. I love to see very slim stilettoes with steel tips, but hate to see them being worn when they obviously need repair. I think that nylon tips take the fun out of clicking along the pavement because nylon does give the exciting sound that I love to hear.

Hi Pata,

on the few occasions when I have skated outdoors in the skates, it is not easy to get from the camera to a photographic pose before the camera takes the picture. It isn't as hard as it looks, especially on a road type surface

Give me a location, date & time and I will photograph your progress for you with both a stills camera and a movie one.

I've been skating (indoors) in heels for years. The feeling of helplessnes when on what I call High Wheels, takes my breath away. Incredible to find someone else who shares my interest. Does anyone else?

High Wheels is a great name for this most unusual sport. I love the feeling of helplessnes. I used to use 5.5" stilettoes strapped to an adjustable skate as per the previous post. Then I put a 3ft square board on my bed and tried to stand on it. With the bed springs giving in all directions and the skates trying to launch in those direction, I got a huge WOW factor. then having found my balance I tried to turn round 360 degrees with nothing to hold on to but your balance and fresh air..................SUPER!!!

I have regularly fallen off my various heels from 5" upwards. The causes of my downfalls are many but include:- Stilettoes with nylon tips sliding on ice (Should have had steel tips) High platforms rocking violently on a small pebble Trying to walk on high wedges over slippery rocks on beach Trying to walk on sloping sheet ice and being blown over by wind. I go these places because I enjoy the challenge of taking heels where one should not go. Does enyone else have experiences to relate while up high?