These tropes all involve or are related to being at a great distance above ground level, or some object or place of great heights. They involve climbing, wall-navigating, structure traversal, and any traipsing about that doesn't involve out-and-out flying through the air, in a vehicle or not. This index also collects tropes involving falling from such heights as well.
For tropes involving character heights, see Height Tropes.
Subtropes:
Climbing and Traversal
- Absurd Altitude: A character is flung to a ridiculous height.
- Bedsheet Ladder: Climbing down from a window using sheets as a rope.
- Body Bridge: A person or people act as a bridge for others to cross.
- Can't Use Stairs: A character cannot climb stairs.
- Climbing Climax: The climax takes place atop a tall structure.
- Climbing Mechanics: The various ways in which climbing is represented in video game media.
- Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity: Tall walls of rock as obstacles.
- Climb, Slip, Hang, Climb: A character briefly slips while climbing.
- Colossus Climb: A small character climbs a big character to attack the latter's weak point.
- Crow's Nest Cartography: High altitudes reveal more of the map and/or points of interest.
- Dangerous Clifftop Road: Cliffside roads are dangerous.
- Dramatic High Perching: Standing atop tall structures to look cool.
- Driving Up a Wall: A vehicle that can drive across walls and/or ceilings.
- Electric Slide: Grinding on power lines.
- Enter Stage Window: Sneaking inside a building through an open window.
- Floating Platforms: A platform that floats in mid-air.
- Floor Fakeout: A character seemingly walking on the floor is actually on the ceiling.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: A pistol which fires a connected grappling hook.
- The Ground Is Lava: Navigate an area or accomplish a task without touching the ground.
- High-Altitude Homicide
- Hook Humiliation
- Human Ladder
- In a Single Bound
- I Need No Ladders
- It's All Upstairs From Here
- Journey to the Sky
- "King Kong" Climb
- Ladder of Mishap
- Leap of Faith
- Lover's Ledge
- Mind Your Step
- Le Parkour
- The Precarious Ledge
- Rise to the Challenge
- Roofhopping
- Rooftop Confrontation
- Scaling the Summit
- Sitting on the Roof
- Stepping Stones in the Sky: Walking on falling debris.
- Stepping-Stone Sword
- Sticky Shoes
- Super Window Jump
- Through the Ceiling, Stealthily
- Tightrope Walking
- Wall Crawl
- Wall Jump
- Wall Run
Falling
- Air Jousting
- Blade Brake
- Bottomless Pit: A hole with no bottom.
- Bottomless Pit Rescue Service
- Car Cushion
- Casual High Drop
- Catch a Falling Star
- Crash in Through the Ceiling: Falling through the ceiling of a room.
- Cut the Safety Rope
- Desperate Object Catch
- Destination Defenestration
- Disney Villain Death
- Falling into His Arms
- Free-Fall Fight
- Free-Fall Romance
- Gravity Is a Harsh Seamstress: Falling through clotheslines gets you dressed in mismatched clothes.
- Hanging by the Fingers
- High-Altitude Battle
- High-Altitude Interrogation
- High-Dive Escape
- Hit the Ground Harder
- I Fell for Hours
- Improbable Falling Save
- Ladder Tipping
- Literal Cliffhanger: Hanging from an actual cliff.
- No Escape but Down
- Non-Lethal Bottomless Pits: Falling down a bottomless pit doesn't kill you.
- Noose Catch
- Not the Fall That Kills You…
- Railing Kill
- Slow-Motion Fall
- Staircase Tumble
- Suicidal "Gotcha!"
- Take My Hand!
- Talking Down the Suicidal: Convincing someone not to jump to their deaths.
- Trash Landing
Physics
- Edge Gravity: A ledge that's unnaturally difficult to fall from.
- Falling Damage
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress
- Inertial Dampening
- Ladder Physics
- Plummet Perspective
- Soft Water: Falling into water from a high height isn't harmful.
- Teetering on the Edge
- Variable Terminal Velocity
Structural
- Absurdly Long Stairway: Is there an elevator available?
- Clock Tower
- Construction Zone Calamity
- Elevator Failure: An elevator breaks.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness
- Girl in the Tower: A girl is imprisoned in a tall tower.
- Highly Visible Landmark
- Lift of Doom
- Mage Tower: A magic-user's spectacular tower.
- Over-the-Top Roller Coaster
- Sky Cell
- Space Elevator
- Star Scraper
- Stock Clock Hand Hang