Tower Maintenance

Impressive.

I totally just hurled.

Respect.

30lbs tool bag is nothing compared to the 50lbs of courage between his legs.

I'm almost at 5.00 minutes and already, wtf? fuu** that.

My palms were sweating while watching that, Ive climbed some stuff, but whole crap that takes a different kind of human.

MASSIVE respect. I feel like a puny human. :( I felt my 'nads do somersaults just watching that.

I think I would skip the whiskey.

been on a similar tower...1800' transmission tower for WPDE-TV in Sellers, SC to install repeater antennas. went up to around 1400', we were 400' below the transmission antenna waveguide termination. the station was transmitting at half power and you could feel yourself getting warm from the inside out. this was at night, after midnight. Decided to find another line of work. yes, the elevator ride took 45 minutes. it isn't so much an elevator as it is a skybasket...cable climbing basket powered by a huge Milwaukee drill motor.

1.700+ft? Man I skydived from lower altitudes and was VERY glad to have that 'chute on my back and be transported up by aircraft to start with. And then I see these guys just climb up just like that- Respect.

I mean- walking 2.000ft is nothing. But climbing even half that distance with a heavy pack straight up on a ladder is murder for your limbs...!

OMG....That had me cringing in my seat. There were times I couldn't look. My son was laughing, I was not. Very scary. I have the utmost respect for people like this.

Insanely neat!
I'm amazed at the lack of a safety line, osha or not osha.
I wish there was some jokes in the narration as the voice reminds me as Warren Miller's ;) Extreme!

It would be fun to try once or twice. Mentally, you should remember that after 80 feet or so it doesn't matter how much higher you get.

I like your spin on it, R2K.

I started feeling nervous about 3:50, when it was obvious he wasn't using the safety line that much. The parts where he seemed to be grasping for something to hold were a little much for me.

Yeah, I dont like ladders. That was tense.

However, I see your 2,000ft climber with this 500,000 volt line maintenance guy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGoaXZwFlJ4

and here I thought I hung out with the crazy peoples

geeeeeze H xmas !!

First part wasn't so bad. Then they mentioned that most don't use safety lines and UGH... I can barely continue to watch the rest of it. Specially since he keeps looking down, I guess maybe to get his footing right or something.

whow. makes you wonder how they build it in the first place. Woulnd it be nice if someone installed a savety bar with some kind of self braking attachment? so they would only have to switch when they go to other parts. Or get a chute or something, because this way they stil have to get DOWN as well...

..No way they getting me up there.

If it were up to people like me, there would be no radio towers or high voltage lines (good link, Court Jester) in the world.

I wonder if anyone has gotten stuck up there before. :/

a PINT of whiskey? A freakin' Pint? I don't think anybody would be able to do any climbing after that much whiskey!

He should change the flashing red light bulb while he's up there.

Oh. My. God.

How do they find people willing to do that who are also qualified for performing the repair? Can you imagine what it's like going up the first time? Outrageous!!!

I almost vomited watching that. I was a few minutes in and thought: wow that must be a lot of safety gear. BUT THEN, it cut to explaining how there is no safety gear. I'm surprised that guy can haul his ginormous nads up that tower...

Okay, I can see free climbing for ease of mobility and speed. If this is something you have practised many times before, you know your limits and what to watch out for it isn't too much worse than climbing a ladder to put up Christmas lights.
As a sport climber myself, however, I can't help but question only using one safety restraint line when resting or when anchored to do work. At the top of most every sport climb in the U.S. there are two anchors. If one anchor, or your equipment fails you should have a much greater chance of survival being clipped into two separate anchor points.

i feel a little sick now

After the first 50' or so, the additional height pretty much becomes irrelevant - 50 or 500 or 1500, the falls going to kill you.

Mozee, that's what they were going up to do - change the bulb on the top.

Because that's an unpainted tower, it has white strobes instead of red flashies. Red flashers are only visible at night, so you have to paint the tower if you're gonna use those. Can you imagine being the poor shlub at the top with a paint bucket?

These guys make seriously good money, they charge their climbs by the foot, and it's usually a tiered scale. By the time you get over 1000', the tab gets pretty big.

Some of those guys charge $1-$2 *per foot*, plus another $100/hr on top of that. A day on top of an 1800-foot tower can net you a tidy coupla grand.

The other thing they don't mention at all in the video is that on a tower that tall, the top sways several feet (10-20) in even a light breeze.

My first thought was; wow, what an excellent base jump possibility. But watching the guy free climbing 1100+ feet while dragging up 30 lbs of dead weight gear, and using only one safety line when resting or working, ah... no thank you!

$2000 a climb? Mutiply that times 100 and you'll get what I would CONSIDER doing it for. And then probably not once I returned to reality.

Bet its fun taking a dump from the top :p

I couldn't watch that all the way......my heart starting having palpatations. No way could I do that. I gotta lotta respect for the folks who do! They must be totally fearlesss.

Did you notice at the top when getting ready to hook the caribener up he had no hands touching the tower? This is when the second climber gets up there near him. Can you image a mis-communication? I have only climbed 250 feet and I kissed the ground when I was safely off of the tower. Too old now! Crank ups baby!

You know what else would make a good YouTube video?

"How Many Large Men Would It Take To Make Doof Climb This Tower?"

I think it would take at least 6.

the video is down :( never got to see it

> the video is down never got to see it

io9.com
5639113
the-scariest-video-you-have-ever-watched-in-the-name-of-science

The video is back up -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Q0SReCpsw&feature=related

and this one -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QofGSKbq5Lk

is even worse.