One summer in college I worked for a homebuilder, and one day I was on an extension ladder trying to cut out some caulking from around some exterior window casing so it could be replaced. It had become very brittle and hard, so it was difficult to cut. I had to really lean into it with my razor knife, which suddenly slipped, and my inertia caused me to lean out away from the ladder. As I braced myself, I leaned backwards enough that the ladder pulled away from the house, and I had just a brief moment to decide what I was going to do. My options were either 1) jump off while I could still control my trajectory and take my chances, or 2) hang on for dear life and land on my back with the weight of the ladder on top of me. Option 2 seemed pretty terrible, so I decided to jump off. The house I was working at had a walk-out basement, so the lot sloped from front to back, and I was on the side of the house. So, I landed on a slope, which helped, because it allowed me to tuck and roll, completely absorbing the impact with my legs. I thought that I was going to break my ankles/legs when I landed, but amazingly, I just popped right up completely unscathed. My youth and agility definitely were on my side...if that happened to me now, I'd end up seriously injured.