aemeijers wrote:

"Wade Lippman" wrote in message
...

I have always been terrified of going up on my roof. Today I decided that
was silly; people spend all day on them, how dangerous could it be. It was
something I had to get over.
Walking up the roof is actually pretty easy, but walking down it is not.
Walking forward I feel like I might fall, and walking backwards is really
clumsy. I think it is just harder to keep your weight over your feet
going down than up.
How is it best done?

Diagonally. No, seriously. When you are going downhill on anything over
about a 5/12 pitch, zig-zag down like a skier- it will be less scary. And if
you slip, you will fall on your side and butt, not forward.

What is your roof pitch? At my age, anything over about 8/12, I leave to
the pros. I also don't scoot along on my butt on the roof edge to clean
gutters anymore- I use a leaf blower from several feet back, or do it from a
ladder. The old inner ear told me there was just too much chance of tumbling
sideways now.

That, and I heard from a Occupational Therapist that the nerves coming
from your feet and ankles don't transmit signals as well as they did 50
years back, giving you less feedback to help you balance.

I've started seeing how long I can stand on one foot while moving the
other foot around in a sort of circular pattern. When I first tried it
I'd have to put the raised foot down in a few seconds or fall on my ass.
After doing it for a couple of weeks I'm up to over 30 seconds now,
which the OT told me is about average for someone 30 years old.

I think that walking upstairs or up a slope is "easier" because you
realize that if you do fall forward it'll be a much "shorter" fall than
if you fell forward while facing down the stairs or slope.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.