Helmet Camera: Free Climbing a 1768 Foot Guided Tower
This is video of a technician free climbing 1768 feet to the top of a transmissions tower, for repairs. Just so you know, that’s higher than the Sears Tower!
All the footage comes from a camera, mounted on the helmet of the technician. It’s a little wobbly in spots, but it really gives you the false sense that you’re looking at things from the technician’s perspective.
The initial climbing is scary, since you can see all the way down. But the amazing thing about this video is how it just keeps getting worse and worse and OH MY GOD. The moment he steps outside of the structure, I found myself in utter disbelief.
The whole time, I keep wanting to shout out “Why? Why are you doing this?” and “Is that a ladder? Why is that a ladder?” My stomach has dropped to my knees, and I can only watch the video in short bursts. Everytime I close the video window, I breathe a small sigh of relief.
If you’re the adventurous type, I dare you to watch this full-screen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and sit on the floor for a while…
[via MetaFilter, where the comments are pretty hysterical]
Related:
Climbing to the Top of Rob’s Studio
Inspired Heights, North Avenue
Alain Robert, Freeclimber
Window Washer, Merchandise Mart
What’s That Knocking Sound?
I don’t normally balk at heights, but watching this guy work his way hand-over-hand up the exterior of that tower made my palms sweat. What about the sudden gusts of wind! What about the slight slip of a boot! What about a snagged glove! Too many opportunities to tumble out into nothingness.
Chris (September 15, 2010 at 12:21 pm)God that is a little scary even as a rock climber regularly climbing 1000 ft climbs. At least you have the hard face to hold on and don’t have the gust of wind. Most importantly we use protection!
james Howes (September 15, 2010 at 7:52 pm)OMG…i wonder how big is their paycheck??? :-)
Anonymous (September 16, 2010 at 6:33 am)This was one of many great comments, over on MetaFilter:”I liked when he clipped his safety harness to that little four inch nail with no end on it because then he was totally safe.”
avoision (September 16, 2010 at 8:14 am)If you had a friend who was a tower climber, and you were walking down a sidewalk, and he fell, that would be completely unacceptable.
TS7 (September 16, 2010 at 6:24 pm)That was definitely a cool video. This one is dumber, but really made my palms sweat – action starts around 2:00 –
Nathan (September 17, 2010 at 3:04 pm)That video is nuts. WHY would someone want to do this? Bragging rights doesn’t even seem to be worth it. My palms are sweating just thinking about the guy doing pull-ups. Yeesh.
avoision (September 17, 2010 at 3:21 pm)It’s gone. I’d like to see it . . . . got a link?
Andrea (September 23, 2010 at 2:02 pm)It got pulled from YouTube? Weak. At the very least, the company should have created their own channel and reposted it. Or better yet, posted up an even crisper, better quality version. At the very least, they could have posted it on YouTube and disabled embedding.// EditI did a little digging, and found an explanation as to why it was pulled. It was less a copyright issue, and more about trying to keep the climber in the video from being blacklisted.
avoision (September 23, 2010 at 2:15 pm)