History Main / AbsurdlyLongStairway

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirak-zigil by the dwarves had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair). It reached from the peak to the bottom of Moria's lowermost natural caverns (so deep that Gandalf calls them "the lowest roots of the mountain"), and its top was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
** Given to the freefall speed of skydivers and measuring the time it took Gandalf to fall on the film to the bottom of Moria, the bottom of the mines would be at depth of 3,200 m. (The deepest RealLife mine in South Africa bottoms at 3900 m). If the peak of Zirak-zigil would be at 3700 m (12,000 ft) as Karen Lynn Wonstad estimated, the height of the Endless Stair would have been a majestic ''seven kilometres'' high.)

* In the final stage of ''[[VideoGame/TimeCrisis Crisis Zone]]'', the S.T.F. rides an elevator five kilometers underground to Geyser 1, where the final battle takes place. After they win said final battle, the ending scene shows them trying to take the elevator back up, but it's out of order, so they have to take the emergency stairs. ''Five kilometers'' of stairs, [[ThisIsGonnaSuck much to their consternation]]. One shot shows one of them sitting down to take a break.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' entry, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-087 SCP-087]] is a dark staircase that seems to go on forever, with what sounds to be a [[SchmuckBait crying child]] coming at the bottom. Despite this, explorers can never get any closer to the source of the crying and typically tend to run afoul of ''whatever'' is scurrying around in the darkness instead.

* In the final stage of ''[[VideoGame/TimeCrisis Crisis Zone]]'', the S.T.F. rides an elevator five kilometers underground to Geyser 1, where the final battle takes place. After they win said final battle, the ending scene shows them trying to take the elevator back up, but it's out of order, so they have to take the emergency stairs. ''Five kilometers'' of stairs, [[ThisIsGonnaSuck much to their consternation]].

* ''{{VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia}}'', in Caer Bocram there is a absurdly long stairway where you must enter a password to continue, if you found at least one of the first 3 clues.

* ''Twenty Flight Rock'' by early rock 'n' Roll pioneer Ned Fairchild and later covered by Music/EddieCochran. In the song, he describes trying to get up 20 floors worth of stairs to get to his love at the top. Unsuprisingly, he gets super tired and even jokes how "they'll find my corpse dragged over the rail."

* ''Twenty Flight Rock'' by Music/EddieCochran. In the song, he describes trying to get up 20 floors worth of stairs to get to his love at the top. Unsuprisingly, he gets super tired and even jokes how "they'll find my corpse dragged over the rail."

* While it's not too long for a human, the stairway to Cinderella's room in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' is this trope for Gus and Jack (who are realistically-sized mice) when they have to carry the key up the stairs to her to let her out of the room when she was locked in by the wicked stepmother.

* While it's not too long for a human, the stairway to Cinderella's room in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' is this trope for Gus and Jack (who are realistically-sized mice) when they have to carry the key up the stairs to her to let her out of the room when she was locked in by the wicked stepmother.

* The Manitou Incline near Colorado Springs has evolved to become this. An abandoned train track up a rather steep mountainside, the wooden railroad ties became a series of steps for local athletes to climb the mountain. It gains 2,000 ft of elevation in just under a mile of distance, featuring 2,744 steps, making for an average 45% grade rising as steep as 68% in places. Because the trail is perfectly straight and almost the entire trail is visible from the ground, it even fulfills the visual impact of the trope. Climbing it fulfills that part of the trope too - it's considered a famously hard workout, as not only do you have to climb the equivalent of the Shanghai Tower's height in stairs, the ''trailhead'' is nearly 7000 ft in elevation, so altitude becomes a significant factor as soon as you start climbing.

* During the Cold War, there was the apocriphal tale of a Soviet architect who designed a residential building but failed to include an elevator. As a "reward", the Party gave him the penthouse.
* Just about any very tall skyscraper will have these; as convenient and nigh-mandatory as elevators are for climbing these buildings, they still require stairs in case of the elevators being unavailable (due to emergency or malfunction).

* Both ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' and ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' end their TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon with a needlessly long (straight) staircase leading up to the FinalBoss. Especially JustForFun/{{egregious}} in that the staircases in each case conclude a long [[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climb up a tower]].

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

* In ''Disney/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.

* While it's not too long for a human, the stairway to Cinderella's room in Disney's ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' is this trope for Gus and Jack (who are realistically-sized mice) when they have to carry the key up the stairs to her to let her out of the room when she was locked in by the wicked stepmother.

* In the first episode of ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'', Mana runs up an extremely long staircase all the way to the top of the Clover Tower (which is similar to the real life Tokyo Tower) in order to fight a monster, even though she hasn't become a Pretty Cure yet at that point.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* 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.

* The ending of ''[[TimeCrisis Crisis Zone]]'' has your unit shut town the BigBad's nuclear reactor and now have to climb five kilometers of stairs when the elevator is out of order from the impact.

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

* [[Film/AceVentura ''Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls'']]: Ace has retreated to a mountain temple to meditate. It is accessed by, you guessed it, absurdly long stairs. He does not squander the opportunity to try out a Slinky on them.

* During the raid on the Shinra HQ in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', you can either fight your way through the guards, or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MhEm5fYPmo climb your way up 59 flights of stairs.]] Barrett whines and complains the whole way up, while Tifa tells him to "[[MemeticMutation stop acting like a retard and climb]]!" At the end of the stairway, Barrett says [[ImNotDoingThatAgain he never wants to see any stairs again for the rest of his life]].