Be Glad You Don't Have This Job

[vangogh]

About a month ago I found the video below of a tower climber going to work. He and his partner need to do some work at the very top of a 1768 foot tower. They can take an elevator up to 1600 feet and then it's get out and climb the last 168 or so feet to the top. The lead climber had a camera attached to his helmet and so we get to see what he sees during that climb.

The first time I tried to watch I was only able to make it through a minute or two before I had to stop. If you have a fear of heights, be warned. If you don't have a fear of heights, you might after watching this. You'll likely have sweaty palms by the end if you watch the entire thing.

I think tower climbers get paid very, very well, but it's not a job I'd ever take and I'm guessing most of you wouldn't want this job either. You have to have nerves of steel to do this and I can only imaging what the guy's wife might think when he leaves for work. The next time you think how difficult it is to start a business or the next time you think about all you aren't getting from your job, think about this guy and what he does for a living.


http://youtu.be/2A_h2AjJaMw

[J from Michigan]

That's a favorite among my peers.
The highest I've been is 24 stories, but there was no free climbing... harnesses and safety lines galore.

Believe it or not, there's actually a sense of tranquility when you're up that high.

[vangogh]

You've gone tower climbing? Call me impressed.

I can believe it would be tranquil. In the video there are some great shots of the landscape. I do live at the base of the Rocky Mountains and have been up pretty high myself. With a mountain though you always have the earth right below you even if you are high up. I don't think I could climb a tower like that, though. I think part of what makes it seem scarier in the video is that you aren't the one controlling where the camera looks. It feels shakier that way, if that makes sense. There's almost a sense of everything around you is shaking as the guy moves his head around. I'm sure it feels more stable if it's you move your own head to have a look.

[Business Attorney]

I'm not afraid of heights but I could never do that. Being on a tall ladder makes me a little nervous. I don't mind being at the top of a tall building like the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) fully enclosed by glass, but even being near the edge of a open balcony at 1700 feet would probably be unsettling for me. Certainly there is no free climbing in my future! Of course, I've also never had the urge to go sky diving or bungee jumping. The video of the young Australian woman who survived a 365 foot fall after her bungee cord snapped, dropping her with her feet tied into a crocodile infested African river (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8nZ02ISRfw), doesn't help, either.

[vangogh]

Nope that video doesn't help. At least she fell in water and I assume the bungee chord slowed her descent. Not quite what would have happened falling off that tower.

David I'm like you. I don't mind being at the top of a tall building. Again I've been to the top of some very high mountains around here and have looked down at some long drops. There's something different though when it's a ladder or in this case a tower. Maybe it's because you're making less contact with the ladder at any point in time than you are with the building or the mountain. True or not the perception for me is there's less stability on the tower or ladder.

[billbenson]

I skydived once. Its very different, at least for me, being that high in an airplane. You kind of loose the concept of height. I wouldn't climb that tower though.

[KristineS]

The video is very disorienting. I think it is because the guy's head (and camera) are moving as he climbs. It makes it feel a lot shakier than it probably is.

That said, I don't think tower repair work would be the job for me. Heights aren't a major fear of mine, but I don't think I'd enjoy that too much.

[nealrm]

The bungee cord must have slowed her down considerably. Because there is really little difference between falling 365' and 1700' except for the length of time before you go splat.

[huggytree]

0 chance id do it w/o a safety harness.....im shocked that OSHA allows it....i need to wear a hard hat at a building with no roof and no one else working...0 possibility of anything falling on me....yet someone can free climb 100's of feet up....

OSHA also says that roofers need to wear a harness while installing shingles...i just dont get it

no wage is enough for me to do it...i would just assume that i would die eventually from it if i did that job

[nealrm]

Isn't there an OSHA requirement that there needs to be a bathroom with in 350ft of your work site.

[billbenson]

0 chance id do it w/o a safety harness.....im shocked that OSHA allows it....i need to wear a hard hat at a building with no roof and no one else working...0 possibility of anything falling on me....yet someone can free climb 100's of feet up....

OSHA also says that roofers need to wear a harness while installing shingles...i just dont get it

no wage is enough for me to do it...i would just assume that i would die eventually from it if i did that job

The video says OSHA allows free climbing but that isn't accurate. The osha requirement is that you can't be able to fall over 6 ft. There are systems that can be installed on ladders or pegs. Or you can use a twin leg lanyard (not the single leg like he had) and spider crawl your way to the top unhooking one leg of the lanyard at a time on your way up or down.


Isn't there an OSHA requirement that there needs to be a bathroom with in 350ft of your work site.

They have small bushes on platforms every 350 feet.

[huggytree]

Isn't there an OSHA requirement that there needs to be a bathroom with in 350ft of your work site.

the bathroom is probably in your pants.....i believe military pilots just go in their pants on long missions.....i assume you dont climb up the tower just to go all the way back down to go poop.......what if your sick that day and have to take bathroom trips every 10 minutes?........im sure if they have to pee they just whip it out and go....on construction job sites thats pretty much what happens....walk to the nearest corner and go.....

[vangogh]

I'm going to guess if the need to go to the bathroom is that urgent, as in your feeling sick that day, you probably aren't going up the tower in the first place. If you aren't sick you'd go before the climb. It's not like it would take hours to get to a bathroom. The guy did the climb in just under 8 minutes. Keep in mind there's an elevator that takes them up and down most of the way. I'm guessing bathroom breaks aren't as much of an issue as they might seem.

[seolman]

Hmm.. I used to climb towers when I was much younger (>30 years ago). Gave it up when a crane operator almost knocked me off an 80 foot free standing tower. I was in north Africa at the time so OSHA was not really a consideration - no safety harness nothing. I will say if I had a bathroom emergency I would have hit the crane operator right on the head.

[vangogh]

You're a braver man than I am Dave.

[seolman]

There's a fine line between brave and stupid. Climbing towers without a harness was stupid ;)

[vangogh]

Yeah I guess there is a fine line. I'm glad you said which side if the line you were on. It would have been rude for any of us to say. :) I'd still say the reason most of us won't climb those towers is less to do with intelligence and more to do with being scared out of our minds to try.

[J from Michigan]

You've gone tower climbing? Call me impressed.

No, sorry about that.
We're window cleaners, we don't climb up... we descend down. :)

[vangogh]

I'm still impressed. I think climbing is actually easier than descending. Why do I think you have some interesting stories to tell of the things you've seen on the other side of the windows you've cleaned.

[ParaTed2k]

Um, I did have this job! I built and installed the electronics for cell phone towers. I never got to work on one this high though.. my loss!! ;~D

The first question they asked in the job interview was "are you afraid of heights?". Being a former communications paratrooper got me the job. ;~D

[vangogh]

You might just be the bravest of all of us then. :)

How was it working on those towers?

[ParaTed2k]

Oh, it was awesome!! I worked in the Rockies in Utah. Sometimes we were on the top of a the tower, overlooking 1000 feet to the valley. One time we were working on the mountains just off a USAF jet training range. We were looking down at jets in flight! :~D

[vangogh]

I've never been on one of those towers, but I do have plenty of experience with views from the Rockies, mostly in Colorado. I understand how you felt taking those views in.

[SteveM]

Holy Hannah! I just watched half of that video, and I'm actually shaking.

I did some parachuting with the military, but that isn't ANYTHING like climbing that tower. At least with a parachute on your back, you have a 99.9% of survival. If I was on that tower, I think I'd just let go to get it over with.

[vangogh]

That's how I felt the first time or two I attempted to watch. It wasn't until the third viewing where I could make it all the way through. I think part of that is the video itself. It looks a lot shakier than what I think it would look like if you were actually on the tower.

Crazy though to think you spent time jumping out of airplanes and still shook watching the tower climbing.

[billbenson]

That's how I felt the first time or two I attempted to watch. It wasn't until the third viewing where I could make it all the way through. I think part of that is the video itself. It looks a lot shakier than what I think it would look like if you were actually on the tower.

Crazy though to think you spent time jumping out of airplanes and still shook watching the tower climbing.

Jumping out of an airplane is very different, at least to me, than a fear of heights. In an airplane at 3000 feet I didn't feel the sense of height I would have on top of a sky scraper. I jumped once with some college friends. Maybe the fear factor is also because climbing a tower is a prolonged process. The only time you are really afraid jumping out of an airplane is in the split second you jump. Once the shoot opens you know you are going to live. Having said that, one of the three of us that jumped had a main parachute that didn't open right and he had to get rid of it and use his reserve parachute. He might have a very different opinion than I do about the experience reflecting back on it today :)

Which brings me to a different question: Why do people always scream when falling to their death on tv? I think I would be more likely to hold my breath or freeze than scream before I go splat???????

[vangogh]

Makes sense. I think with jumping out of a plane the fear is all up to the moment before the parachute opens. Until it does you don't really know if your journey back to the ground will be a safe one. I think you're right that with the tower, the perceived danger feels like it lasts a lot longer.


Why do people always scream when falling to their death on tv?

It's more dramatic that way. Same reason why many car crashes on tv end in explosions and fires.

[billbenson]

Kind of like when cops on tv yell "stop police" from 40 yards away. It's counter productive. The bad guy now knows they are after him and has a 40 yard head start....

A pet peeve of mine is stuff in the movies or TV that isn't real. Like the guy in a fight that gets hit in the nose and doesn't have a black eye or bleed.

I liked some of Steven Segal's earlier movies because the fights were pretty real. Watched one not to long ago where he broke a guys arm with a valid martial arts technique and they showed it pretty realistically.

Not that I'm trying to Hijack this thread :)

[vangogh]

With any kind of story you have to allow some kind of dramatic license. Very few movies or tv shows are completely realistic. Whether it's the details or the plotline, odds are something in there isn't realistic and trying to make it realistic would hurt the story more than help it. That said I prefer stories get the details right where possible. I always get bugged by movies that are set in a specific decade, but play music from the decade after.

[billbenson]

It's not the dramatic license that bothers me. Such as the screaming during the fall. I like (and so does my wife) action movies. We really enjoyed the recent remake of Rambo for example. But when specific things, such as fight scenes in my case, are either blurred or very non realistic, it bugs me.

[vangogh]

The screaming during the fall is dramatic license though. It heightens the drama for the viewer. It may not be realistic, but it conveys the fear the person falling is feeling. Without it we don't feel the same danger.

[billbenson]

Ahhh, but a facial screen shot would have the same affect and be realistic!

BTW, you are hijacking your own thread here :)

[vangogh]

Yeah, but you thought


I would be more likely to hold my breath or freeze than scream

I'm not sure holding your breath and freezing is all that dramatic. I'm sure you could convey the fear through facial expression alone, but I think the scream is easier to get the message across.


BTW, you are hijacking your own thread here

Is that possible? Can you hijack something that's already yours?

[billbenson]

I'm sure you could convey the fear through facial expression alone, but I think the scream is easier to get the message across.



Is that possible? Can you hijack something that's already yours?

Clint Eastwood has made an art out of saying nothing and getting to point across!!

And I believe you have proven you can hijack your own thread :)

[vangogh]

Not everyone has as expressive a face as Clint. And I'm not sure if he's ever expressed fear or even feels it.

Perhaps I have hijacked my own thread. I'll be suing myself later in a cilvil court for damages. :)

[billbenson]

Every July I rent the good, the bad, and the ugly, buy some tequila, turn the air conditioning off and watch it. Hot, sweaty, and with tequila makes for the ambiance of that movie. I'm a big Clint fan...

And now I have hijacked a thread, that was hijacked by the thread owner and the thread owner had a double post while hijacking his own thread.:p

[vangogh]

Good movie and interesting way to set the ambiance. I can see how it would get you into watching.

So this thread has been double hijacked. The double post has been removed, but this double hijacking thing is troubling.