Tim's previous life
- Thread starter Steve Fehr
- Start date
Kerry & Kathy
Member #007
I suspect going down would be even more challeging...
You would think a safety chute would be mandatory gear....
I wonder how much lateral movement there is at the top from wind... They claim up to 18" of movement at the arch and thats only 1/3 of the height of this tower.
Pretty impressive.
You would think a safety chute would be mandatory gear....
I wonder how much lateral movement there is at the top from wind... They claim up to 18" of movement at the arch and thats only 1/3 of the height of this tower.
Pretty impressive.
Tallest tower I went up was 500' in Harrisburg, IL. Several inaccuracies in the video regarding tie off. A guyed tower (not guided tower as shown in the video), is pretty stable in lateral movements. The movement on a guyed tower is twist and vibration. At that height, there is literally nothing to break the wind, so it's constant. The wind passing through the tower and around the guy wires creates a harmonic that vibrates the whole tower. Climbing up a guy tower is much more demanding and challenging than going down it. Going up, you don't have much choice but to use the ladder in most cases. There were a few that I climbed that had diagonal braces you could climb on the outside. This made the climb quicker, but harder. When I was in shape though, it wasn't a problem.
As for standard equipment, you want to go up as light as possible, so adding a chute bag on your back creates a hazard in itself due to the weight and possibility to get caught on something when you're climbing the inside of the tower.
It was lot's of fun and very dangerous. I only came close once to falling, that was enough to wake me up. I did pass out 450' up on a tower, but knew I was going to and tied myself in to the tower knowing I was going to black out. There had been a chemical spill and apparently, it was strong enough that inhaling it wasn't a good thing. Anyway, more than you wanted to hear I'm sure.
As for standard equipment, you want to go up as light as possible, so adding a chute bag on your back creates a hazard in itself due to the weight and possibility to get caught on something when you're climbing the inside of the tower.
It was lot's of fun and very dangerous. I only came close once to falling, that was enough to wake me up. I did pass out 450' up on a tower, but knew I was going to and tied myself in to the tower knowing I was going to black out. There had been a chemical spill and apparently, it was strong enough that inhaling it wasn't a good thing. Anyway, more than you wanted to hear I'm sure.