Since humanity came up with the simplest concept — the wheel, that would also rapidly boost our cultural and technological evolution —we have sought new, ingenious ways to move from one place to the other, however inhospitable and difficult the way to our destination might be.
Inventing the wheel — a step so vital that 'reinventing the wheel' has become synonymous with pretending to have come up with something new even though it is the simplest, most ancient of concepts — has helped develop bikes, cars, ships, planes; we've figured out ways to traverse up the highest mountains and down the deepest oceans.
We've been to the moon and back and, as it would seem, getting the first human on Mars could happen in our lifetimes, or not very long afterwards. Not only that, but robotics technologies are influencing the way we transport ourselves and material goods; with AI tech becoming more and more prevalent, it's not surprising that we're seeing the sci-fi concept of self-driving cars and artificial intelligence assistants in vehicles slowly becoming a reality.
So, in the grand scheme of things, watching the video above might not seem like much — but can you imagine what our ancestors from even a century ago would think if they saw a jeep climbing up a sheer cliff like Spiderman? The possibilities would be endless at a time when most cars couldn't even make it on the highway for very long.
The 4x4 jeep that managed this incredible feat is a 2006 Jeep Wrangler, and it took place in Sand Hollow State Park, in Utah, United States. The video depicts the car climbing up an almost completely vertical red sandstone wall slowly but surely, never losing any ground on its climb. Eventually, after about half a minute, the jeep makes its way to the pinnacle and speeds up to cross over the final threshold and drive up onto solid ground.
The driver of the Jeep Wrangler, 35-year-old Chuck Converse, says that he owes his incredible achievement to a combination of how the car itself was set up, his own driving skills, and the sandpaper-like qualities of Sand Hollow State Park's ground. 'I was definitely not scared,' Converse said. 'I've done it several times, although it's tricky in rain!' He named his jeep 'Project Total Loss' because he rebuilt the whole vehicle after a serious car accident.
Chuck's achievement got him a lot of attention on social media, with more than 600,000 people flocking to his Instagram to express their amazement at his driving feat. 'This jeep is so sick,' an online user called Pat Mac said. 'It looks like it was definitely worth the wait to build it.'
'I'm sure this is probably a tough obstacle,' another user said, 'but that freakin giant makes it look like it's not all that tough!'
Yet another commenter, perhaps expressing what we all thought when we saw the video, simply said: 'What in the world.'