Axiom Home Page
Posted By: pmbuko Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:03 PM
This helmet-cam video of a technician free-climbing to the top of a 1768-ft transmission tower made me uneasy. (An elevator got him most of the way up,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txdv_oNq81I#t=0m22s
Posted By: Adrian Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:13 PM
I guess part 2 is how to get down from a 1768 ft transmission tower...I hope it's not a 5 second clip!
Posted By: tomtuttle Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:20 PM
"Uneasy"?!?! I thought I was going to puke.
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:34 PM
I've turned down ....FAR.... lesser videos!
Posted By: fredk Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:36 PM
Added to bucket list.
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:39 PM
Like, you have to have a bucket in front of you when you watch the video?

OK, then it's on mine, too.
Posted By: RickF Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:40 PM
That's crazy.

Especially how it made my knees knock from just watching that video.
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 07:43 PM
That's just nuts!
Posted By: ClubNeon Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/15/10 09:16 PM
The company I work for has 200' towers. I've been up on one. The height itself wasn't bad, but the climb was. I don't think I could physically do over 8x that.
Posted By: CV Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 05:13 AM
Oh, crap, I'm too late to watch it.
Posted By: RickF Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 08:09 AM
Apparently the video showed more than the climber wanted future clients to see but here's a screen shot...


Posted By: CV Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 08:24 AM
Yeah, that looks crazy.
Posted By: a401classic Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 11:58 AM
I saw the video before it was pulled and I don't think I've ever been that nervous watching something like that. My heart rate was near 100 and I was sweating like I was outside working in the 95/95. I'm not afraid of heights, but I don't think I could do that job. I'd certainly wear a backup parachute. You know, just in case.

Scott
Posted By: jakewash Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 02:54 PM
I keep thinking about the guys that built that tower and what they had to go through.
Posted By: pmbuko Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 05:59 PM
Here's another link that's still working.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uccjrp5NRYE

Strangely, this didn't give me the chills. There's no way in hell I'd do it, but I felt sufficiently removed from the experience to not feel sick.

Now, if this were on an IMAX screen, I'd think I'd die watching it.
Posted By: CV Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 06:41 PM
Thanks for the link. Definitely not a job I would ever do.
Posted By: fredk Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 06:57 PM
Now there's an idea. This would make a GREAT IMAX short!
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 07:02 PM
Imagine the turnover in the housekeeping department.
Posted By: Wid Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 07:27 PM

No way I would attempt it.
Posted By: BobKay Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 07:55 PM
Two 30-something ex-marines either in MA or NH, snuck up one just last month. They both made it down from their base jump. One just happened to descend way faster than the other, as he "lost his ba-lance," as Curly Howard used to try explain to brother Moe, and simply fell.

I know there was video, but the local news outlets refused to show it. Thank God I've already seen all 7 "Faces of Death," so I KNOW what I'm missin' out on.
Posted By: Ray3 Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 08:27 PM
Thank God I'm only 6'3". At 6'4" I would start being frightened. What these guys are doing is just incomprehensible.
Posted By: RickF Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/16/10 09:15 PM
Several years ago while doing an early morning flight out of Orlando I saw two workers at the very top of one of the two grouped together 1,500' 'Bithlo' towers with the ground completely covered in thick fog, it was really a wild sight from only a couple of hundred feet above and a mile away.

There was at one time three 1,500' Bithlo towers but one of them fell to the ground due to structural failure in the early '70s'. eek
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Afraid of heights? - 09/17/10 12:32 AM
Because when you're considering climbing one of them, you really want to have it in your mind that sometimes they simply fall down!
© Axiom Message Boards