History Main / AbsurdlyLongStairway

* In ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas'', chip and Belle seem to face this when climbing the staircase up to the attic to consult with the other members of the household about putting together a Christmas party.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.

* In Literature/{{Discworld}} the Unseen University's Tower of Art is 800ft tall and along the inside edge of the building are some (very old and infirm) steps which spiral upwards and number 8,888. Several wizard traditions require senior wizards climb those steps, then spend five minutes being out of breath and wheezing. There may be something supposed to happen after this, but since most UU wizards are elderly and overweight, few ever get enough puff back to carry them out. They still climb the spiral steps though, because it is ''tradition''.

--> ...the endless stairs of the Screw took everything that remained: courage, strength, and endurance-endurance above all. Climbing. Climbing. Climbing. Clinging to seams as they picked their way over collapsed sections. Hurrying past the hundreds of gaping black portals. Bending back their faces to remind themselves of the sky they sought, to wonder at the way it waxed and grew.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', the angel Meleos keeps a copy of every written work humankind has ever produced. The archives are in an "underground tower more than a mile high," concealed beneath the Hamburg bookshop he manages. At the very bottom he keeps his own creation, a living [[TarotMotifs tarot deck]], which has become corrupt and extremely dangerous, such that when he tries to destroy the cards, they overpower him and escape. Too weak after the battle to manifest his wings, he must climb the staircase by foot.

* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.

-->--'''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny''', ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes From Hare to Heir]]''

* The Film/{{Ghostbusters}} have to climb 20 flights of stairs for the confrontation with Gozer, due to the elevators being out of service.

* In the season two finale of ''Series/TheMindyProject'', Mindy has to climb the stairway to the observatory on the Empire State Building because the elevators are broken. As soon as she starts climbing [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot the elevators start working again]].

--> Sonny: Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty steps, Detective.
--> Detective Del Spooner: Do me a favor and keep that kind of shit to yourself.

->''"Whew, the Alps ain't got nothing on these stairs."''

* ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'': The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning its length along its walls. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters.

* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of the Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.

A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor. also commonly paired with the punchline WeTookTheElevator

* In ''Film/TheMusicBox'', LaurelAndHardy deliver a piano up one of these. The staircase was also used in the comedy films ''Isn't Life Terrible?'' and ''Ice Cold Cocos''.

-->--'''BugsBunny''', ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes From Hare to Heir]]''

* During the raid on the Shinra HQ in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' the "subtle" approach is to climb up the skyscraper's stairs. 59 floors of them, in fact.

A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' had a looping staircase, with constantly climbing music, though it didn't lead anywhere at first. You can climb it forever if you don't have the key or powerup -- turn around and you only climbed 10 steps -- but have the item and the staircase is not very long.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' episode "Yzmopolis", the Temple of the Sky God has one of these. Kuzko, lazy bum that he is, naturally complains about this, saying (paraphrased) "Why does it have to be the Temple of the Sky God? Why can't it be the Temple of the Down the Block Corner Store God?"

* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', the angel Meleos keeps a copy of every written work humankind has ever produced. The archives are in an "underground tower more than a mile high," concealed beneath the Hamburg bookshop he manages. At the very bottom he keeps his own creation, a living [[TarotMotifs tarot deck], which has become corrupt and extremely dangerous, such that when he tries to destroy the cards, they overpower him and escape. Too weak after the battle to manifest his wings, he must climb the staircase by foot.

These stairways can be found in man-made structures (such as very tall towers with no lifts) or more supernatural locations. They can have a major symbolic meaning, about ascension or spiritual uplifting or the like. They can find application both in serious works and in comedy. In the latter case, expect some unlucky ButtMonkey to trip and tumble all the way down.

* A short story (the title forgotten) where a woman finds herself being chased by a street gang. She ducks into an abandoned building and starts climbing the stairs to get away from them. She keeps climbing and climbing, but it seems like the stairs never end. At one point, she hears one of the gang members have a nasty fall. (At the end, we find out he died on the way to the hospital.) Once she's certain she's safe, the woman goes back down and goes home. When she returns to the building with a friend, she's surprised to see the stairs only go up to the second floor. Something strange (implied to be supernatural) happened.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen "The Snowmen"]]: The Doctor parks the TARDIS in the clouds and uses a spiral staircase to get up to it. The staircase is taller on the inside.