It’s because climbing them can kill you. Actually, climbing UP isn’t the problem, climbing DOWN is. A sweet friend of mine died falling down The Great Pyramid of Giza (also Khufu or Cheops) in 1980 during a college study-abroad program — it was a tragedy. I’d climbed it earlier that day with some other friends. With no serious fear of heights, it’s not too difficult for someone in reasonable shape to clamber up in 10–15 minutes.
On the descent, however, you basically have to jump down, rock by rock. Jump, jump, jump, hundreds of times. Remember, the pyramids were originally covered in polished limestone, they weren’t designed as stairs. What’s left are the ragged remains after pillagers later stripped off the limestone coating to construct local buildings. The stones are uneven, ranging from a few feet to 6+ feet tall (see the photos).
Many of the landing spots are smooth, slippery, and covered in 4,000 years of sand or loose rocks. They can be angled downward, narrow, or cracked. There are few trustworthy handholds. With the ignorant fearlessness of youth, the ascent felt exciting, not life-threatening. Climbing up, it never occurred to me that any minor misstep would be fatal.
Think of it as climbing the outside of a 45-story building without any safety equipment. You truly can’t understand exactly HOW perilous it is until you’re high up and already in serious jeopardy. Imagine jumping around the ledges outside your 35th-floor office window. I’d intended to climb to the top but when I stopped for the very first time perhaps 3/4 of the way up, turned around, and looked down, I promptly changed my mind. The unobstructed view 350 feet straight down was dizzying.
My friend was athletic but she must have slipped during her descent. In retrospect, this could have happened to anyone. It’s steeper than it appears, so once you lose your footing, you won’t stop tumbling until you’re at the bottom.
We later learned that her fall was not an isolated incident. Below are a few of my photos, for context. [Update: I just learned from some of my fellow 1980 students that climbing was illegal even then, but they’d slipped the security guards a little “baksheesh” to look the other way. Interesting, I’d just walked over and started climbing, no one bothered me.]
The view from the climb, approaching the top:
The view up, from the base:
Photos (c) 2018 Ross Fishman