History Main / ClimbingTheCliffsOfInsanity

* The embassy in ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Identity]]''.

* The infamous 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.[[note]]Players and various staff members for the alumni rugby team of a Catholic school in Montevideo survive for over two months by [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty eating the bodies of the deceased]].[[/note]]Realizing that rescue searches were over, two team members walked over the Andes mountains into Chile to summon help. This was recreated in the 1993 film ''{{Alive}}''.

%%* Film/{{Cliffhanger}}.

* [[spoiler:Duncan Idaho]] scales a cliff several miles high in ''God Emperor of {{Dune}}'' with no gear at all, a feat so impressive that one female onlooker reacts quite ''enthusiastically'' when he reaches the top.

->''El Capitan, the great big granite monolith in Yosemite Valley that apparently attracts all kinds of nuts who want to die horrible, splattering deaths—[[LastSecondWordSwap I mean, mountain climbers]], it attracts lots of mountain climbers.''

* In ''SinCity'', Marv has to get to his parole officer's highrise apartment but there's a man hunt for him going on. How does he get up there? Simple. He climbs up the side of a building with his bare hands.

* [[spoiler:Duncan Idaho]] scales a cliff several miles high in ''God Emperor of {{Dune}}'' with no gear at all, a feat so impressive that one female onlooker reacts quite enthusiastically when he reaches the top.

* Devil's Tower (Bear Lodge) in Wyoming is climbed by many people. Looking up a tit, it even looks like the cliffs if Insanity.

* The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. Buttercup's kidnappers climb the Cliffs of Insanity to escape pursuit, but of course the Man in Black [[{{Determinator}} isn't ready to give up that easily.]]

* The stairs of Cirith Ungol in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (and the film of the book). Gollum leads Sam and Frodo up this way because the main entrance to Mordor is too well guarded and fortified for them to be able to sneak in.

* During the Invasion of Normandy during WorldWarII, US Army Rangers of the 2nd Ranger Battalion supporting the landings on Utah and Omaha Beach were ordered to scale Pointe du Hoc, a 100-foot promontory situated between the Utah and Omaha landing sites, and seize the battery positioned there. In truth the guns had been moved a mile inland (contrary to popular myth, the commanders of the assault were fully aware of this, though as shown in ''TheLongestDay'' the Rangers ''themselves'' weren't notified). The 2nd Rangers ultimately suffered nearly 50% casualties scaling the cliffs and seizing the bunkers there, denying their use by German artillery observers.

* The infamous 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.[[note Players and various staff members for the alumni rugby team of a Catholic school in Montevideo survive for over two months by [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty eating the bodies of the deceased.]] /note]]Realizing that rescue searches were over, two team members walked over the Andes mountains into Chile to summon help. This was recreated in the 1993 film ''{{Alive}}''.

* ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'': JamesBond climbs a mountain in order to reach the monastery at the top.
* ''Film/SeachdTheInaccessiblePinnacle''

* Film/{{Cliffhanger}}.

* ''Film/TheGunsOfNavarone'' (see below).

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', it seems like the only way to travel through the mountains is to walk along narrow cliffs. Naturally, there's a couple LiteralCliffhangers and a minor character's DisneyVillainDeath.

See also ItsAllUpstairsFromHere. May involve DaggerClimbing.

-->--'''''Website/TheAgonyBooth''''', ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' recap.

* The Statue of Liberty in ''[[TheDestroyer Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins]]''.

* In ''{{Troy}}'' similar to the above example, Achilles proves he is no slouch by climbing up the side of the Trojan citadel while all the other Greek troops use the main entrance.

* ''Film/{{Star Trek V|The Final Frontier}}'': The film opens with Captain Kirk scaling El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

* Creator/{{Bally}}'s ''Pinball/{{Paragon}}'' includes the Golden Cliffs, and reaching the summit scores the Cliff bonue.

* The stairs of Cirith Ungol in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (and the film of the book).

* The infamous 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.[[note: Players and various staff members for the alumni rugby team of a Catholic school in Montevideo survive for over two months by [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty eating the bodies of the deceased.]] /note]]Realizing that rescue searches were over, two team members walked over the Andes mountains into Chile to summon help. This was recreated in the 1993 film ''{{Alive}}''.

* The infamous 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.[[note]Players and various staff members for the alumni rugby team of a Catholic school in Montevideo survive for over two months by [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty eating the bodies of the deceased.]] [[/note]]Realizing that rescue searches were over, two team members walked over the Andes mountains into Chile to summon help. This was recreated in the 1993 film ''{{Alive}}''.

* The infamous 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.[[hottip:*:Players and various staff members for the alumni rugby team of a Catholic school in Montevideo survive for over two months by [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty eating the bodies of the deceased.]] Realizing that rescue searches were over, two team members walked over the Andes mountains into Chile to summon help. This was recreated in the 1993 film ''{{Alive}}''.

See also ItsAllUpstairsFromHere. May involve Dagger Climbing.

* ''TheGunsOfNavarone'' (see below).

* In ''TheGunsOfNavarone'', a commando team has to scale a steep cliff to get onto an island and destroy the German artillery emplacement that is fortified there.