Instant vertigo?

[shobet]

Jebus H Christos, I've got sweaty palms and dirty kecks just from looking at this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txdv_oNq81I

[Dazza1004]

that was mad, most of the time he wasn't clipped on to anything.

[tomjackson]

I put masts up for a living, I certaily don't allow free climbing on my sites!

In this country you always need to be connected to a fall arrest system or use double lanyard so you are always attached to the structure.

I don't climb them though F$%k That!

[Matt77]

I can imagine the scene from the top

"damn it I needed a flathead screwdriver not a phillips!"

[Transcend]

thats one job i wouldnt like to do in cr@p weather.

I may have missed something completely here but what exactly are they going to do at the top? are they repairing something? it may have been mentioned at the beginning but ive forgotten.

[Afghan Dave]

I really do feel like my head is swimming...  :?

Amazing.

[shobet]

thats one job i wouldnt like to do in cr@p weather.

I may have missed something completely here but what exactly are they going to do at the top? are they repairing something? it may have been mentioned at the beginning but ive forgotten.

rewind not work on your 'puter? They're putting a new bulb in the fairy at the top of the tree.

[Transcend]

it does but i was on a mission to get to the chippy before it closed.

[hunter]

Oh man I feel sick now!!

This is pretty amazing!

[Plexi Ken]

I couldn't watch it all the way though... felt like I was falling :oops:

[Philly Q]

It didn't make me feel sick watching the video, but trying to do that in real life sure as hell would!

I don't really understand, though - if people routinely have to climb towers like that, why don't they make the ladders a bit safer?  They're 1700 feet up climbing a pole with nails sticking out the sides, FFS! 

[mecca777]

It didn't make me feel sick watching the video, but trying to do that in real life sure as hell would!

I don't really understand, though - if people routinely have to climb towers like that, why don't they make the ladders a bit safer?  They're 1700 feet up climbing a pole with nails sticking out the sides, FFS! 

That's what I kept thinking; does it add so much weight and expense to put a cage around the outside of the ladder to ensure that nobody can lose their footing and fall a third of a mile to the ground? Or is that something which never happens anyway? How on earth do the companies which employ these workers handle the insurance side of things?

I say that's what I kept thinking, but of course all I could think while I was actually watching the video was "jesus jesus jesus I'd throw up". :)

[FernandoDuarte]

I'm really feeling a bit sick! I'm affraid of high, must say...

thats one job i wouldnt like to do in cr@p weather.

Usually, you just DON'T do it... Most safety laws say that even big windy condition you can't go to something like 50m high... imagine 1000m...
And you can't really go there with rains and lightning...

[nfe]

Video's been taken down.
 :(

[tomjackson]

It didn't make me feel sick watching the video, but trying to do that in real life sure as hell would!

I don't really understand, though - if people routinely have to climb towers like that, why don't they make the ladders a bit safer?  They're 1700 feet up climbing a pole with nails sticking out the sides, FFS! 

That's what I kept thinking; does it add so much weight and expense to put a cage around the outside of the ladder to ensure that nobody can lose their footing and fall a third of a mile to the ground? Or is that something which never happens anyway? How on earth do the companies which employ these workers handle the insurance side of things?

I say that's what I kept thinking, but of course all I could think while I was actually watching the video was "jesus jesus jesus I'd throw up". :)

It's to do with wind loadings, you can't just increase mass and surface area at the top of such a big structure without it acting as a giant sail.  Plus, you can't put things round the transmitter otherwise the signal will be impeded.

What they could do is put a latchway system in which is basically a tensioned cable that you latch on to with a harness and roller that goes along the cable, any sudden increase in speed (i.e. if you fall) and the roller jams closed like a seatbelt and you stop.

I think in this case the mast is so high maintaining it would be an issue (which would have to be regular due to the inclement weather at that height) and also if somebody did fall and activate the system they would get suspension trauma before anybody could get them down - there's not really room for the other guy to cut his harness and take his weight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_trauma

So that's why they are not connected.