Shepherd's Leap #shorts

In the Canary Islands, local shepherds have a unique survival skill called the Shepherd's Leap, or Salto del Pastor. This ancient technique was originally developed to navigate the rugged mountain terrain. However, as it faced the risk of disappearing over time, some enthusiasts turned it into a sport. The long stick they use has a metal tip at the bottom, similar to a spear, which easily pierces soft soil or rock crevices to provide stable support. To prevent hand injuries, they apply a special lubricant made from goat fat to make the stick more slippery.
#interastingfacts #interesting #uniquefacts

[Simon_Sez]

One of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while tbh

[ExwhyzFR]

This technique combined with fierljeppen and maybe pole vaulting could be the ultimate combo for human-powered mobility

[alfyanrauf]

assassin's creed developers: write that down! write that down!

[rexstocephirxiii]

This is a great way to preserve the practice. And I just realized that a lot of sports started like this.

[lazaruslazuli]

This skill would come in handy getting away from an aggressor who didn't have the same kind of stick/pole. This allows a man to make 20' jumps with ease.

[garethaustin]

As a mointaineer, this could have saved me a lot of time over the last TWENTY YEARS.

[kinder.vernicther]

not only a thing to negate fall damage but a pike too? nice

[OldManPaxusYT]

52 years old and lived a wild life of almost non-stop study and researching all sorts of amazing things.
YAY!!! Something i HAVEN'T SEEN BEFORE!!!
Amazing! This helps explain how tough and amazing shepherds in some parts must have been!
(I always wondered how a lone shepherd would survive things like bandits, wolves, packs of wild dogs etc etc)

[wolfflamekindl]

My grandfather taught me this at a young age; it really jumpstarted my love of exploring and drove off my fear of the unknown.
There's no such thing as an insurmountable obstacle, you just need the right tool and the right approach.

[mmdetoro]

Fun fact: The Canary Islands have a volcanic origin, which means that not only do some of them look straight up like the moon, but they have a very abrupt landscape, so centuries ago locals developed a language consisting entirely of whistles, that allows for communication up to 5km, even from valley to valley

Two differentiated whistles substitute the 5 spanish vowels, 4 substitute the consonants, and the different combinations of this allow for the expression of over 4000 concepts.

It's called "Silbo Gomero".

It's centuries old and used to be common to every island in the archipelago, but these days it's use is reduced to one specific island (La Gomera) where every single person knows it, and since 1999 it's is taught (mandatory) in schools in order to preserve it

[adelok]

Damn I'll never be as cool as a canerie island shepherd.

[victorvondroom]

I'm from the canary islands and idk nowadays but when I was a kid we learned a lot of cultural practices like this one in school and many of us still do them as a passtime

[durand]

Chacho, el salto del pastor. Pa' que no te derrisques por un barranco.

[RedEarthXDX]

So in a shepards free time they used spears to pole vault around hills and practiced using slings to hurl rocks at birds? Being a shepard seems like a cool gig.

[kristinajendesen]

I used to do a similar physics thing at school. Leap down the stairs, one floor to another by leaning on the bannisters creating that bit of friction to slow you down safely.
Caught by a teacher doing it he was not a happy bunny.
50 years ago now but at 63 I would still do it given the chance.

[jamesamestil]

Man is an agility beast.
People living in cities or baren flat locations and not exercising much: do it the lazy way: lay stuff around your floor, place boxes chaotically and navigate your home like in a forest or mountain sort of: you'll get some agility back and potentially fix muscles and joints, or bowel mouvement problem. (first you'll have a couple bad days hitting your feet or knees or slamming on the floor xD and not beleiving in it but you'll find relatively quick result, just don't abandon too fast) just do it, it's the lazy way, everything else is much harder, or too far or costly, and remember to drink enough water/teas just add tiny bit of good salt for sodium and minerals to help hydration).

[mscott]

"Cool, how d'ya learn that neat trick with the goat fat for the pole?"
"Umm...coincidence?"

[trulucro]

You know, I will never get over the fact of how over endless years of human history, we still enjoy using sticks in creative ways from sports, to weapons, to movement tools and much more

[riseupyourself...]

Beautifully amazing... don't lose history 🙂

[Cuarandera]

This is pretty neat. Humans still manage to delight me with their ingenuity.