Anybody wanna match this climb?

[Rick]

I even got a little nauseous watching these guys climb


http://video.yahoo.com/network/101149635?v=8244494&l=5144241

 

[dirtpig67]

Count me out!!!

No way would I be up there!!

 

[bubba]

I don't know Rick... if given the opportunity, would you say no? I hate heights, but I'd have to consider doing it... lots of adrenaline flowing, no doubt!

 

[jbrown]

I loooooove heights. I think I'd be okay for most of the actual climbing portion, it's when he has to move over joints, clip in, clip out, and maneuver a little awkwardly that the exposure would probably get to me.

They say it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end...

 

[tb69wemt]

I have been climbing for nearly 25 years now. I have a few big walls and a FA or two under me. I had the chance to climb a 680+ foot tower several years ago and while the height was not a problem I found the fact that the tower swayed in the wind to be a bit unnerving. I imagine that a tower this size has quite a bit of motion to it.

 

[wardsgirl]

Awesome. Kinda surprising he doesn't wear a BASE parachute.

 

[Head]

Now thats a great job! Wonder how the pay is?!?

 

[Chip]

I'd keep climbing too, if I had that damned Imperial Storm Trooper chasing me up the whole time.

Maybe that's where this mystery man came from.

Honestly, my first impression was "Cool, no biggy." But that would freak me out having to down climb it.

 

[dirtpig67]

I went back and watched it again. I really don't think he was clipped in very much during that climb. I only appeared he was doing it when he stopped.

 

[MichaelJ]

I went back and watched it again. I really don't think he was clipped in very much during that climb. I only appeared he was doing it when he stopped.

The voiceover on the video says exactly that - he is free climbing, and clipping in only when stopping for a break or at the top — that it would be unfeasible to climb a few feet, unclip, reclip, climb a few feet, etc.

 

[smitty77]

I went back and watched it again. I really don't think he was clipped in very much during that climb. I only appeared he was doing it when he stopped.

Yes, towers like those are free-climbed. A college buddy of mine climbed a big one once in the mid-west. Not as tall as that one, but probably somewhere near a 1000 feet. He said he had "lunch" (probably a small, high energy snack) somewhere during the climb so that he would have the energy to climb back down, which I thought was neat.

I think the one spot that would have me REALLY losing my lunch was where the climber had to make his way around and over what I suspect are lightning suppression/arresting devices.

Having climbed and worked on much smaller (60+ foot) ham-radio towers, the climb down was always the most nerve wracking for me, especially when you're tired.

 

[Jay H]

On a similar note but perhaps more pedestrian (sorry for the pun) and a little more accessible to the public:


Scariest bridges...:

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-35868704

jay

 

[bubba]

Nice Jay! For me (one who totally respects heights) the CDN suspension bridge looks the worst! The Mackinac Bridge doesn't bother me at all... but I hate driving over the Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge (the tall suspension wires seem to accentuate the height) -- and the close-by Burlington Bay Bridge (Ontario, CDN) is usually windy and I've driven over on my motorcycle with screaming white knuckles!

Tampa Bay

Burlington Bay

 

[MichaelJ]

but I hate driving over the Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge (the tall suspension wires seem to accentuate the height)

I had the "privilege" of going over the old Skyway as a kid, just a few months after the 1980 collapse of one of the twin spans when struck by a freighter in fog. It was the most unnerving bridge crossing I ever made, as approaching the top of the bridge, looking out the side of the car, the other span of the bridge just vanished, an enormous gap where it had fallen. That left me in a free-floating moment, despite being securely in the car. Of course, this was one of the formative moments that led be to become a bridge engineer.

Here's an old stock photo that shows what I mean.

 

[--M.]

That's intense. His hand shakes and hesitates a tiny bit on some of the moves, but he goes straight through the job. It was amazing to see a human element in the cool competence. When the helmet swings quickly through the vertical axis, it's vertigo-inducing. Great stuff!

 

[Jay H]

..as a kayaker I go under some of the bridges spanning the hudson... I feel safer sometimes going under then when driving over some of them now (So long as a span doesn't fall onto me as I paddle under... )

Jay