I have heard the pay is $1 per foot ascended...

[jumpy]

"Now we've reached the base of the antenna, from here it's just another 60 feet to the top."



better you than me...

peoples are made to be in direct contact with terra firma - unpleasant and often squishy things happen when this contact is lost for more than a few seconds. Serial!

[XabbaRus]

Glad I wasn't the only one feeling a little queasy.

I'm not afraid of heights per se, but when I go up high like a tower I hate going near the edge, even on an 8th floor balcony. I think it is the fear I can go over the edge.

Very strange.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by August

Parachutes still have to open to work, there there is that little issue with AA fire and hot DZ's.

Actually though tower climbing doesn't even make it into the top 20 dangerous jobs. That puts it behind policeman, fireman, fisherman, and linesman.

Ok, I give up. Your not going to be honest and admit you wouldn't climb up that. You can keep tap dancing about "whos more dangerous" and "when i was younger", but as we sit here, living and breathing, id bet my last dollar you would NOT climb up there. Of course, you'd never have to prove it, so you can pretty much say whatever you want, but i'm pretty sure we both know better.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by August

The wind chill on a 200ft tower in the Arctic must be quite something!

Yep, he lost a big toe to frost bite up there.

[August]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Ok, I give up. Your not going to be honest and admit you wouldn't climb up that. You can keep tap dancing about "whos more dangerous" and "when i was younger", but as we sit here, living and breathing, id bet my last dollar you would NOT climb up there. Of course, you'd never have to prove it, so you can pretty much say whatever you want, but i'm pretty sure we both know better.

Believe what you want. Just remember that just because you are chicken doesn't mean everyone else is.

[Oberon]

If I were in better physical condition, going up would be a shot I might take...but...just bugger having to go back down again...just...no. You'd have to get a hot air balloon or something to pick me up. Not a helo though...I don't fancy getting zapped...

Lighthouses arent a problem for me, those are usually solid looking, and feeling, structures. Steel tower like that one, though, are more akin to being on a swingset. Then again, I enjoy being out on the sea in a storm so I guess logic doesnt really apply as to why I find this scary.

Edit: Speaking of awesome lighthouses

Whoa! That is awesome. I thought our winter storms were bad but...no...
This is about as rough as it gets:

(Taken on the local beach)
Reminds me of a photograph that my old Doctor used to have on his wall, it was of the base of the Needles lighthouse off the Isle of Wight with a large wave crashing over it...beautiful.

What I'd love to do, although I have to be honest and admit that although I say it, if actually confronted with it, I don't honestly know how I would react...but I would love to do a paradrop from a C-47. Just to get an idea of what those brave and wonderful men went through on the prelude to D-day and Market Garden.

[Oberon]

Oh, and sadly it looks like the original video has been taken down.

[Sailor Steve]

Yeah, I just got here and can't watch it.

On the other hand, when I was twenty and just back fro Vietnam my destroyer as in a floating drydock. Our Chief Radioman took me on a climb up the ladder to test the antennae on the main mast. I held the leads while he cranked the hand-powered generator, and the aluminum mast wobbled back and forth 200+ feet above the bottom of the drydock.

Then I thought it was pretty cool. Now I don't like going up a ladder to the roof of a house.

[Sammi79]

I would definitely give that a go, though maybe a safety line (for the first few goes at least) wouldn't go amiss. Wind and condensation sprang to my mind immediately and watching the video gave me vertigo which I don't get when I work at height - still I can't honestly predict what I'd experience at 1700 feet. You could just use a retractable steel line attached to the top of the various (3 I think) parts of the climb, or a Grigri on a rope. Steel could be made weather-proof as a permanent fixture though. Either way it don't waste no time clipping and unclipping on your way up. I was holding on to my chair just watching him on the external part. If he was working with the guys I work with, one of them would have been shaking the mast at the bottom for added enjoyment. The view would be worth it I think.

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

the aluminum mast wobbled back and forth 200+ feet above the bottom of the drydock.

Funny thing about aluminium is its tendancy to fail suddenly when under tortion that exceeds its capacity to withstand... steel will bend and creak and groan for a good while before it fails, whereas aluminium will SNAP suddenly.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by August

Believe what you want. Just remember that just because you are chicken doesn't mean everyone else is.

Hokkay dokey...., but I don't subscribe to your magazine.

[jumpy]

Originally Posted by Sammi79

If he was working with the guys I work with, one of them would have been shaking the mast at the bottom for added enjoyment.

The bastards

[antikristuseke]

If it was the people I work with, they would be hanging on to the toolbag and would expect me to drag their sorry asses to the top while constantly asking "are we there yet?"

[Freiwillige]

I found it again.

http://video.yahoo.com/network/10114...4494&l=5144241

Pretty nutz how they climb all over the outside of that thing with little safety equipment in strong winds. Ill pass!

[krashkart]

Watching or thinking about that kind of climbing gets the palms a little sweaty. I'm usually OK with a climb as long as I'm not thinking about the inevitable, so maybe a tower ascent wouldn't be much different for me. Only one way to find out... but damned if I have the gumption to change careers just to see if I've enough courage to change lightbulbs on an over-glorified whip antenna.

@Sammi79 - My eldest uncle is just one of those guys that would make your climb more entertaining... for him, at least. I don't ride cable cars with him anymore.

@August - Is that a younger you in your avatar?



EDIT - So, if the pay is a buck per foot and you climb a 1,000 ft. tower.... hey, maybe I should change careers!

[GoldenRivet]

I have attached a link to a working video in the original thread and here:

http://www.rbr.com/radio/ENGINEERING/94/27557.html