v1kram's posterous

Extreme engineering ...

Workers build a footpath around the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in China  


Thousands of metres up the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in Hunan Province, China, a team
of workers, operating with hardly any safety measures, are building a footpath


The workers are building a plank road on the side of the mountain that, once it is finished,
will stretch for 3km (9843 ft) and be China's longest sightseeing footpath

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48-year-old Yu Ji (above) is one of the workers and he has been working on high cliffs building such plank roads for more than 10 years. He comments: "Young people don't want this job, as it requires them to stay deep in the mountains for months or even years"
 
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Yu Ji takes charge of the most dangerous part of the project -
drilling the holes to set up pipes to support the footpath
 
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Building a plank road on Shifou Mountain is difficult because the
cliff stands vertical at 90 degrees, without any slope or alcoves
 
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A finished section of the footpath

Fire Waterfall ...

Yosemite National Park, California , USA

This park was gazetted as a national park in 1890. It is world famous for its rugged terrain, waterfall and century-old pine trees. It covers 1200 sq km and the "fire" waterfall of El Capitan is one of the most spectacular of all scenery.
The spectacular view of the waterfall is created by the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle. This rare sight can only be seen at  a 2-week period towards the end of February. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have to wait and endure years of patience in order to capture them. The reason is because its appearance depends on a few natural phenomenons’ occurring at the same time and luck.
1st, Is the formation of the waterfall - The water is formed by the melting of snow and ice at the top of the mountain. It melts between the month of December and January and by the end of February there might not have much snow left to melt.
2nd, is the specific angle of the sunray hitting the falling water - The sun's position must be exactly at a particular spot in the sky. This occurs only in the month of February and at the short hours of dusk. If it is a day full of clouds or something blocking the sun, you can only take pictures of your own sorry faces on the waterfall. It coincides with the fact that the weather in the National Park at that time of the year is often volatile and unpredictable. It compounds to the difficulty of getting these pictures.
Someone did!!! And we all get to see it!!!  

(download)