The Origin of Pole Vaulting
 

I was sitting here watching the olympics when I realized the futility of pole vaulting.

Anything that could be vaulted over could be scaled quicker and easier and with less training using a ladder or a ramp, and given how half of all pole-vaulters land, I assume safer as well.

How did this insane sport get started?

Wikipedia to the rescue:

Of course, they didn't vault the same way the people in the Olympics do.

Didn't they vault face down? I'm pretty sure that was the norm during the first iterations of the Olympics.

for a second there i thought this was about the origins of Pole dancing, in which case, i would be more interested on the subject...

But, anyways... if you check it down to details, a lot of Olympic sports are a tad "crazy"...

I agree but many of them have useful applications in normal life.
Like throwing things, running from things, swimming away from things... or swimming towards things I guess... shooting things... but pole vaulting uses a technique one would never, EVER see used in practical use anywhere in the world. Nobody in their right mind, when confronted with a 12 foot cliff, immediately grabs a stick, runs at the cliff, and barely clears it, landing on their back on the other side (its a VERY small cliff).

I can understand it as a way to cross natural barriers but again... the whole scaling OVER something with a pole just seems a bit... stupid.

I think that the pole vaulters vault over the heights of the bar much faster than one would climb. Because it is, you know, about 16 - 20 feet up in the air. And really, if it were onto a roof or something? Much smoother landing than over a fence or something. And what if there's barbed wire on top of that fence? Pole vaulting. Tell your friends.

And imagine if your assualting a castle. You put a ladder up, they'll just push it down and injure everyone on it. You run at the base of the wall with a pole, what's the enemy going to do? Piss their armour, that's what.

You mean you're going to pole vault onto a rampart full of enemy soldiers, presumably wearing more armour than you are? I mean, nobody can polevault while wearing a full plate, surely?

I particularly enjoy the survival techniques that were the precursor to indoor volleyball, to say nothing of curling.