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Maggie’s This Job IS Not For ME
- Thread starter fx77
- Start date
I met a couple guys that traveled climbing towers. They were crazy as hell and knew it.
A buddy of mine does it in North Texas, he makes enough money from it to where he can afford a top notch guided elk hunt in utah, antelope hunt in co, and idaho mule deer. Every god damn fall. 5 years straight. Not married and no kids. Hmmm.. might have to get over my fear of heights...
Yea screw that.
Also better take 2 bulbs with you. You ever pull one out of the box and it works for about 3 seconds and goes out.
Also better take 2 bulbs with you. You ever pull one out of the box and it works for about 3 seconds and goes out.
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Ive always heard its a money making job if you have the balls. Though his financial situation might be more credited to not having a wife and kids.
Ive always heard its a money making job if you have the balls. Though his financial situation might be more credited to not having a wife and kids.
One of my nephews did it for years and made good money. Now he manages the office of the company, making better money and not worrying about getting lit up by lightning on an Oklahoma tower. I've done big wall climbing so I'm OK with the height/exposure, but lightning does not give a fuck about your life plans.
No biggie climbing the guy wire Mast, but don't like the idea of hanging around long periods of time on transmitters or even under them . wonder if they cut power for a time when he actually on transmitter to replace the beacon bulb ?
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I worked nights on PRR (Pennsylvania RR) power transmission (and every other kind of PRR) towers (and tunnels) back when I was 19.
The tallest I ever worked was atop the Newark Bay (NJ) Bridge, 495' above the water. Eventually, I walked every foot of the PRR rail tunnels under the Hudson, and the LIRR tunnels under the East River.
You get used to it.
But nobody on the crew was over 26, and the foremen were crippled.
One night we had a negligent fatality. The power controller in a power station clear across the Hudson River threw the wrong switch putting 66KV through a friend of mine about 50ft above me on the same tower; and the next day I got myself hired by IBM. It just got too bright that night, and we were up in the middle of a hurricane. Trains gotta run...
That job was not for me, either.
Neither was, actually...
For some reason, death didn't bother me near as much after that night.
Three months after I got hired, I also got drafted into the Marines...
And that is an entirely different story...
Greg
The tallest I ever worked was atop the Newark Bay (NJ) Bridge, 495' above the water. Eventually, I walked every foot of the PRR rail tunnels under the Hudson, and the LIRR tunnels under the East River.
You get used to it.
But nobody on the crew was over 26, and the foremen were crippled.
One night we had a negligent fatality. The power controller in a power station clear across the Hudson River threw the wrong switch putting 66KV through a friend of mine about 50ft above me on the same tower; and the next day I got myself hired by IBM. It just got too bright that night, and we were up in the middle of a hurricane. Trains gotta run...
That job was not for me, either.
Neither was, actually...
For some reason, death didn't bother me near as much after that night.
Three months after I got hired, I also got drafted into the Marines...
And that is an entirely different story...
Greg
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Down here in Aus we have a cluster of towers at what was once a US Navy base, the tallest is Tower Zero. 1296 feet. One night in the bar there in 1973 I somehow got involved in a challenge to race to the top the next day. I did not win. http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta/holt.htm
Always feels good when you get to the top without resting too hard.
This is the top of cable you latch into to keep you from falling
This is the top of cable you latch into to keep you from falling
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Would not want job on power towers . The large high-volt transmission towers that span high volt by large waterways are pretty tall easy most go 450' + height . They a way bigger mind fuck climbing than climbing big tall guy tower . You get standing in between armatures on the middle wire support arm with high volt wires under your feet, with high volt hanging above and below you on top and bottom armature. When you climbing around and standing there, your in middle of huge buzzing flux field and you can feel it in your body, Static is just crazy with snapping off anything you touch, It is even worse when it is dry humidity and cold out .
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Who's the retard that put your u bolts backwards?!?! Shit like that is what gets innocent people killed
Yeah no shit.
I have worked in the electrical distribution and generation utilities the last 25 years
Yeah no shit. Having safetclimb on ladders/ towers is awesome. Can absolutely fly up and down. The double lanyard 100% sucks, but better than the alternative of free climbing and having an oops.
I have worked in the electrical distribution and generation utilities the last 25 years
The older I get, the more I'm afraid of heights. As a young man, I'd think nothing of climbing a 50 ft pole. Now, I get the wobbly knees at 20 ft.
That second photo does not look good!
And falling isn't bad , it's the sudden stop at the bottom..
I do something similar, just not as high lol. And where I work, there's no scaffolds or ladders. You pretty much have the beams and good luck climbing up them.
In 'Nam, it wasn't the height, it was the VC snipers...; FYI, I was an Engineer Electrician in I Corps, and climbed a lot of poles. Good thing I wasn't in one of those "attractive" MOS's, or I'd probably have been in real trouble...
Sometimes, I just really got to understand how that goat on a rope feels...
IMHO, "VC" and "sniper" is a contradiction in terms.
They had lots of chances...
Greg
Sometimes, I just really got to understand how that goat on a rope feels...
IMHO, "VC" and "sniper" is a contradiction in terms.
They had lots of chances...
Greg
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I won't say where, or when.....but I know a guy that was once employed as a police sniper who told me when he was young, and needed some money, he used to shoot the light out of a local tower, so he could get the job of changing the bulb.......
I have to make myself watch stuff like this. Makes my legs feel weird. Good job for a young stud. At my age, I’ll pass. I can still hear my dad telling either my brother or I as we climbed up onto barn roofs, grain elevators, etc... “Be careful, that’s not far enough up to kill ya”. Guess he didn’t need a gimped up kid around that had to be fed but couldn’t put in a days work.
I climbed a cell phone tower in college one night. It was only a few hundred feet. The older I get, the more I like keeping both feet on the ground.
I find heights to be rather relaxing. For some reason anytime I'm up high it seems like the whole world goes silent. Then again I'm a weird fucker. You all know that by now.
I find heights to be rather relaxing. For some reason anytime I'm up high it seems like the whole world goes silent. Then again I'm a weird fucker. You all know that by now.
You should try skydiving.
The falling isn't the problem...it is the landing that messes you up.
Technically you are correct, none-the-less my point remains that neither the fall nor the stop at the end will be a problem if one wears the proper harness and ties it off properly.
I would find whomever didn’t put the back plate on and beat him with one.
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