Afraid of heights? Yowza

[John Coloccia]

http://www.liveleak.com/mp53/player.swf?config=http://www.liveleak.com/mp53/player_config.php?token=07b_1284580365%26embed=1

Someone posted that on another board I'm a member of. It took four tries before I could watch the whole thing.

[Dave MacArthur]

Wow... I feel a bit sick to my stomach just now...

[Jason Roehl]

My palms are sweating.

[Clarence Miller]

I thought the Empire State Building scene from the King Kong remake was bad. If I had seen this on the big screen I have very little doubt my popcorn would have stayed put.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have been scared of heights my entire life. I started working on oil rigs at age 15 and believe me, when I had to go aloft to help the derrick hand, my hands would leave palm prints in the steel before they'd let go.

And yet I have never been afraid of flying.

Since I developed vertigo attacks 7 years ago and take medicine for them, I don't even go onto my roof anymore.

[Bruce Page]

They must pay them very well.
I couldn't/wouldn't do that for all the tea in China!

[Bill Huber]

I watched it but I was white knuckled all the way. That is some kind of video, I don't think I could watch it twice.

I am not afraid of heights that much but that is unreal, I don't see how they do it.

[Brian Ashton]

Amazing stuff. How do you trial for such a job? You don't want to be 1000 feet in the air and find out you can't continue, know do you.

For me it's odd in that I can't stand heights but as long as I'm tethered they're no problem. I've leaned out over a 700 foot cliff to get a better look while standing on just a nub of a rock outcropping without any fear at all. Shimmied out on a 6 inch tree branch that was overhanging a 600 foot drop into a subterranean cavern and then absailed to the bottom without the slightest fear. There was so much weight on the rope you had to pull yourself down. Repelled off a bridge 400 feet in the air where we had to kick out and drop about 15 feet first - no sweat... But I can barely walk along a 2x6 only 2 stories up simply because I'm not tied in. Knowing they're not tied in at all causes my guts to tighten.

[George Sanders]

When I was young my family owned a drive in theater. As a teenager I would climb the 90' screen to set up a swinging scaffold to make repairs. Now, at 58 I don't like getting up on a step ladder.

[Lee Schierer]

I was appalled by the lack of safety equipment. There is no climber protection system on the entire climb. I'm not certain that his single hook over one of those L-legs or carriage bolt climbing rungs would stay put if he were to slip. I also noted that his rope was frayed in a couple of places.

[John Coloccia]

Amazing stuff. How do you trial for such a job? You don't want to be 1000 feet in the air and find out you can't continue, know do you.

For me it's odd in that I can't stand heights but as long as I'm tethered they're no problem. I've leaned out over a 700 foot cliff to get a better look while standing on just a nub of a rock outcropping without any fear at all. Shimmied out on a 6 inch tree branch that was overhanging a 600 foot drop into a subterranean cavern and then absailed to the bottom without the slightest fear. There was so much weight on the rope you had to pull yourself down. Repelled off a bridge 400 feet in the air where we had to kick out and drop about 15 feet first - no sweat... But I can barely walk along a 2x6 only 2 stories up simply because I'm not tied in. Knowing they're not tied in at all causes my guts to tighten.

I have trouble with heights, but my favorite pastime back in California was renting a plane for an hour doing some aerobatics at lunch. Go figure that one out.

[Matt Meiser]

I don't even do well changing the bulb on my yard light that is 15' up on my shop. I don't have a problem with planes but the observation deck at the Sears tower freaks me out and that was before the new glass floor things.

[Dave Anderson NH]

We all have quirks. I was a rock climber and mountaineer for many years before I became old and fat. I have no problem being up 1000+ feet on the face of a cliff or looking down with nothing but air between my feet. I can remember doing an unplanned free solo of the Middle Teton in Wyoming when my wife unexpectedly began to suffer from altitude sickness after we reached the Lower Saddle. The standard route up the west side has a couple of places where if you make an errant step your next stop is a small glacier about 4000 feet below with a couple of bounces on the way. Need less to say I was extemely careful. On the other hand, put me 20 feet up on a ladder and I am truly very very nervous. I think that is that cliffs generaly don't fall down, but ladders can.

[Belinda Barfield]

Wow . . . not me, no way, no how. Where do they put the porta potties?

[Rob Stanhope]

nope.nope.nope.

[ray hampton]

I will send a robot up the ladder to perform the work

[Joe Leigh]

Wow, really hard to watch that....what do those guys get paid?

[John Coloccia]

I read an interview with one of them. He said he got paid $60,000 a year for normal 60 hour weeks. That wouldn't even pay for the constant therapy I'd have to attend.

[Howard Brown]

Wow couldn't do it. My knees are still locked up from watching it!

[Rod Sheridan]

I was appalled by the lack of safety equipment. There is no climber protection system on the entire climb. I'm not certain that his single hook over one of those L-legs or carriage bolt climbing rungs would stay put if he were to slip. I also noted that his rope was frayed in a couple of places.

Lee, I work for a communications company and this is either a very old video, or something OSHA would be very interested in.

Any time we're 6m above grade, fall arrest equipment is required, it's in the Canada Labour Code. The only time you're exempt from that requirement is when you're installing the fall arrest equipment.

A track type arrest rail would be standard, the block with lanyard attached travels up and down with you.

When climbing over obstacles or changing ladders, the new arrest lanyard is connected before the old one is removed.

Scary video, stupid work practices............Regards, Rod.

[Matt Meiser]

Kinda OT, but how in the heck to they erect a tower like this?

[Bruce Koch]

I decided a couple of days ago I was going to sell my 28' ladder that too long for me. They don't have to worry me about wanting their job.

[Heather Thompson]

I bet the guys in this video would love this job, climb for a few hours, work some and then go home.

Heather :D

NOT ME!!!!!!!!!

http://wimp.com/wingsuitjumping/

[Scott T Smith]

Kinda OT, but how in the heck to they erect a tower like this?

Matt, I used to be involved in the tower industry, both in the manufacturing as well as construction end, and have personally been at the top of 2000' TV towers.

Since the video features a guyed tower, I’ll address the construction of one.

Tower erection has not changed much in the past 50 years. The tower sections are usually assembled on the ground - typically in 20' segments, and stacked around the base foundation usually in order of erection. In some instances (very large towers or free-standing towers), the individual components are hoisted up and assembled in the air (legs and inner-members).
Most of the time the bottom section of the tower is assembled as one long piece on the ground - for a 2000 foot tower the assembled bottom section (called the "stub" in the industry) will usually be 200' or so. Once assembled, the lowest set of guy wires are attached to the tower stub, and a road crane is used to stand the stub up on the base foundation. Usually something in the 100 – 200 ton range will be used for a large tower. A large, triple drum hoist is used to drag the guy wires out to the inner anchors, using blocks attached to the base of the tower as well as the anchor points. Once the lowest set of guy wires are attached to the anchors and tensioned, the crane will then hoist a gin pole up into the air and climbers will cable it to the top of the stub. Typically a gin pole for a tower this size will be 100' long or thereabouts. After that, the large crane usually departs, but a smaller boom truck will usually be kept on site for moving the sections around.

A second, double drum hoist is set up, with the hoist cables used to raise the gin pole, and raise the individual tower sections.

The top of the gin pole typically has a block that stands out from it a couple of feet, called "the roosterhead". One of the cables from the double drum hoist goes though the roosterhead and back to the ground, with a large counterweight (the headache ball) and hook on the end. This cable – often referred to as “the load line”, is used to pick up the individual tower section for stacking.

The second hoist cable goes to a block at the top of the tower stub, and then down to the bottom of the gin pole. This second cable is referred to as "the jump line". During erection, depending upon the length of the gin pole one or two tower sections are hoisted up and bolted into place, and then the gin pole is “jumped” up to a higher level, in order to repeat the process. This continues until the entire tower is stacked, pausing only when a new guy level is reached so that the guy wires can be attached and tensioned.

Once a tower reaches 200’ during construction, the permanent tower lighting is also installed as new sections are stacked.

Working with the large towers is totally different than small ones; in some instances the larger towers will use up to a 2” bridgestrand material for the guy wires; nothing about them is very light duty.

Once the steel is stacked, the antenna and lines are installed.

It is a fascinating industry; but there are not many large towers being built today, as the growth in telecom related tower market is in the wireless phone market (smaller towers or monopoles - usually 200’ or less). The “heyday” of the broadcast market was in the 70’s and 80’s, when a lot of high wattage TV stations were being built before cable and satellite became the norm. Two of the primary companies that used to be involved with large tower construction were Kline Iron and Steel (based in SC) and Stainless, Inc. (based in PA).

[Rob Steffeck]

"World's Toughest Fixes" on the National Geographic Channel did an episode where they replaced the antenna on top of a 2,000 foot communications tower. You get to see the jin-pole / jumping in action during the lift. I'm sure you can find the full episode online somewhere, but this 5-min edit shows it pretty well:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/worlds-toughest-fixes/3564/Overview#tab-Videos/06097_00

Like some others, I have done quite a bit of mountaineering, rock, and ice climbing. The heights didn't bother me in the original video, but the lack of protection or safety system did. Lightening, strong winds, etc are all a possibility...I just don't get it. As anyone who's done any form of climbing will tell you, climbing up is not the dangerous part, its climbing down.

[Michael Weber]

Had a friend that moonlighted climbing radio towers and he charged by the foot. The dude that climbed that tower could retire now based on what my friend charged.

[Don Alexander]

there isn't enough money in the whole world to induce me to do that

[Garrett Ellis]

"World's Toughest Fixes" on the National Geographic Channel did an episode where they replaced the antenna on top of a 2,000 foot communications tower. You get to see the jin-pole / jumping in action during the lift. I'm sure you can find the full episode online somewhere, but this 5-min edit shows it pretty well:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/worlds-toughest-fixes/3564/Overview#tab-Videos/06097_00

Like some others, I have done quite a bit of mountaineering, rock, and ice climbing. The heights didn't bother me in the original video, but the lack of protection or safety system did. Lightening, strong winds, etc are all a possibility...I just don't get it. As anyone who's done any form of climbing will tell you, climbing up is not the dangerous part, its climbing down.

That video looked like they took an elevator all the way up.. or did they just edit out all the climbing parts?

[Harold Burrell]

I want to reply to this at length, however...

I have to puke.

[Brian J. Williams]

I do a fair amount of high-angle work, mostly on rock, but I do a little bit of structural access as well. Fall protection is a big thing, and the regulatory types I've run across would be citing those folks for not using fall protection. Yes, it can be a pain in the butt, but all it takes is one good gust and if you're not attached you become detached, in which case you have some time to consider the errors of your ways. The ratty-looking gear is another thing, as is using a large hook on one of those wire-type tower steps. That person ought to know better than to clip onto something like that- those steps are NOT designed as a fall-protection anchorage.

-Engineer, geologist, climber, still going at 51

[Scott T Smith]

That video looked like they took an elevator all the way up.. or did they just edit out all the climbing parts?


Most 2000' TV towers have elevators inside them, and this tower probably had one.

This is the first time that I've ever seen a gin pole with an elevator though (not a bad idea). Also, it's unusual to remove one antenna before the replacement antenna is on site. Typically you would want the replacement antenna to be on site, electrically verified (to catch any problems that could have arisen during transportation), and rigged ready to be lifted, before removing the old antenna.

[Jaze Derr]

The audio stated that they took an elevator up to about 1600 ft, but after that it was climbing.

My orifices puckered watching that..

[Brian Ashton]

I noticed the loose fitting leather gloves - that alone made me cringe. I would never where anything like them if I was relying on a solid grip.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'd drink a glass of Drano before I'd climb that thing...

[Matt Meiser]

Most 2000' TV towers have elevators inside them, and this tower probably had one.

This is the first time that I've ever seen a gin pole with an elevator though (not a bad idea). Also, it's unusual to remove one antenna before the replacement antenna is on site. Typically you would want the replacement antenna to be on site, electrically verified (to catch any problems that could have arisen during transportation), and rigged ready to be lifted, before removing the old antenna.


Keep in mind its off a TV show--probably edited to sound more exciting than it was.

[Leigh Betsch]

I ain't afraid of nuttin, (on YouTube).