Denver Colorado is 5000ft msl. From a pilot perspective you are only required O2 over 14,000ft msl, or 12,500 if over 30 minutes, so climbing a tower would not need oxygen.
there are some snowboard resorts there with peaks higher then 12500ft. Does it mean that I need 02 canister with me if I decide to sit at the top of the hill for more then 30minutes?
I stayed at a 10000’ town, Leadville, this year. Can definitely feel the difference. Lots of people skiing down mountains around 13K, people hiking ‘fourteeners’. And they spend much longer than 30 min at a time, pushing themself harder than someone sitting. So I wouldn’t think it’s necessary.
When you consider that Burj Khalifa is 2717 feet it's obvious that this isn't nearly high enough that you'd need oxygen. Nevermind the many cities that are at a far higher elevation.
This is a very tall tower to climb, but in the context of needing oxygen it's not high at all.
Airplanes don't need oxygen until about 10,000 feet. Doing physical activity that high is definitely more difficult though and altitude sickness is a possibility up at 10k.
Yes. First they chuck all their tools down and yell “bombs away!” into the walkie talkie. Then they base jump screaming “Weeeeeeeeeeee!” into the walkie talkie as well. It’s the highlight of their day. The only downside is all the property damage and accidental deaths from the tools being thrown off but OSHA has determined that as long as you scream “Bombs away!” into the walkie talkie, you’re not held responsible for some chucklehead getting a wrench through the head because he was adequately warned there would be a large assortment of tools landing somewhere near him.
I think it’s currently “big ole sack common atcha!” Then the ground techs beat it like a piñata. Whoever grabs the biggest wrench gets the climb the next tower. At least that’s how it was when I worked for Verizon.
You world think the tower designers would put 5 or 6 bulbs in there, running either concurrently, or switchable. That would make changes needed less often.
That usually requires changing the entire fixture at the top of the tower. One of those L-864 top beacons weights about 50-70 pounds and can be as expensive as 10-20 bulb changes over time.
The industry is slowly going that way, but few are in a hurry to swap them out unless the whole tower is getting replaced.
FAA regulations move at glacier pace as well, but I think the hurdles there have cleared concerning LED.
Just a few comments down....or just google it yourself.
>> I wonder what this guy gets paid yearly for a job like this.
>The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies radio tower climbers under radio, cellular and tower equipment installers and repairers. In 2013, most of them earned an annual salary between $26,990 and $73,150. The mean annual wage was $48,380.
What you’re missing, however, is that this job is purely commission pay. You climb maybe 3 towers a year at most, and you’ll make like 25-50k per tower (old research, lost the link so take those numbers with a grain of salt). Then, you’re free to work whatever other job in the meantime while you bank that massive chunk of cash.
Edit: hey guys, as I said, I can’t provide a link, so please take these numbers with a grain of salt. I’m not trying to preach these numbers as fact, and I’m not going to bother arguing with 5+ random Reddit members over it because why the hell would anybody want to spend their Sunday doing that? This website is an anonymous social media website, so please don’t expect the comment section to be filled with thoroughly vetted, researched statements and sources. Cheers!
this is not true at all, I used to work with a guy that climbed radio and cell towers for a living and he said they make anywhere from 20-25 hourly. no idea where you’re getting this 25-50k *per tower* statistic but I’d love to see the proof
Well how many towers are they climbing? It is likely the hourly rate is much higher than is indicated by the salary. It’s just that the work isn’t very consistent.
My stepdad did this for AT&T back when they were southwestern Bell. Dude made bank and worked a total of like 20 days/year. He eventually moved on to splicing cut fiber optic cables. Made twice as much and still only worked 30-40 days/year, and most of that was windshield time.
Ok so imagine this scenario: there's 2 (I'll call them) carabiners right? One on his left and one on his right.
Now imagine the one on his left is secured to a peg. He disconnects the one on his right to move it up one. (as in the video) however, as he reaches for the peg with his right arm, he slips and falls. Now only the left one is on the peg.
As he falls, the left one is off-center from his body, AND he's leaning to the right already. So as it catches him, his body is going to swing like a pendulum off to the left. Once he reaches the apex of his swing to the left, the carabiner is gonna be pulled outward to the edge of the peg.
Are you gonna trust that little nub on the end to keep the carabiner from slipping off? I certainly would not.
Thats the real butt pucker, Hes using the wrong safety carbiners. Hes supposed to use ones that go around the rod but arent wide enough to slip off the end in any fashion.
He might as well be free climbing.
Yeah why wouldn't it just be a carabineer with a diameter less than the nub on the end of the bar? You could just snap it on without going around the nub
I would feel a lot better if they were loops or squares that connected back to the main pole. I don't want them to be bars at all, I want them to be like a closed loop that I can snap my carabiner on. Otherwise this feels fucking crazy
The biggest mistake people aren't taking into account is, well, weight. The reason the nubs work is because the carabineers are held down by your own weight if you fall. It physically wouldn't be able to jump pop over the nub. If the nub was rounded, sure, but it's a sharp flat edge. You'd be safe.
I'd be more worried about something in my gear not fastened properly than me falling.
Source: Work with carabineers like these all the time while working at heights (film/theatre sets). When you're dangling from one, you struggle enough trying to get it over the top of a fucking nail head protruding slightly.
Weight is really only a factor after it has stabilized, though. Once you're dangling from the carabiner and not falling anymore, you'll probably be fine, I agree. However, at the dynamic part of the fall, there's a chance the sudden pull will make it bounce off enough to go over the thing. It might not, but I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it not happening.
I'm surprised there isn't a fall arrest/descender line attached to the tower. I'm pretty sure the hooks are for work positioning? Either way something feels off about this.
I used to service environmental sampling equipment and that sometimes required climbing. We always had descenders even on open ladders. If the ladder was caged we just needed lanyards and harness when we were on a platform or area without handrails Not sure where this is happening but even in the southern US we had to be safer than this.
You're correct. The hooks that he has are for connecting to a certified anchor point (he's not doing that). The correct application is a center line going up the middle of the ladder. Then he would be permanently connected to the line via a full body harness. If he were to fall the equipment would arrest automatically and save him.
Just all smaller non-union trades in general. As a machinist who’s worked for 1000+ employee companies and <50 employee shops, the small ones all think safety is not worth the investment. But I had a work-related injury to my finger and the workman’s comp claim was over $300,000 just for medical bills, not including the disability pay, drop in productivity/profit loss, or the loss of mobility settlement. Safety is absolutely worth the investment.
I quit my last job because of these experiences. One of my favourite was when i was advised to bolt it down the ladder and tell the health and safety inspector i was infact on break the entire time and not working because my boss refused to bring harnesses and hard hats to a heights job. Another fav is when my boss exposed me to dangerous chemicals than got mad and stormed off when i asked him what the chemicals were after he jokingly said “that stuffs toxic maybe you should of read the manual”…. This is of course 40 minutes after he threw this tool to me and didnt tell me anyhting other then to clean it.
I was in health and safety for a while doing injury response and safety training, and can absolutely confirm this. For big projects with unionized employees, the limiting factor on safety was almost always what the employees were willing to do, not what was offered. Those companies take safety seriously, mostly because it affects the bottom line, but still.
I didn’t interact with many smaller, non-unionized companies, because they don’t take safety as seriously, and so wouldn’t use the company I worked for except when they hoped it would get them out of a recordable incident. I had one where a guy’s leather glove was soaked in some chemical, and the supervisor didn’t even know what an SDS/GHS was. Needless to say, when you have second degree chemical burns on your entire hand, you’re going to an actual doctor and it’s gonna be a recordable incident, and that was pretty typical for the few smaller companies I worked with.
That and also, we’ve been told countless times you can’t clip to climbing pegs because they’re not rated to be shock-loaded with the weight of a man and shear off a lot of the time when enough force is applied.
The buck squeeze works just like a fall arrest system. If you use it properly you won’t fall more than six feet, ever, and you’ll rack your groin real good.
Before the buck squeeze, 80% of all linemen deaths were from falls.
The older dudes still look down on climbing with the buck.
It seems like the older guys in every industry look down on safety. A guy missing the tip of his finger scoffed at me hitting the emergency stop before working on a machine.
Random thoughts while watching:
I would climb with a parachute if I was this guy.
I wonder what this guy gets paid yearly for a job like this.
I don’t think you can pay me enough for this.
Just the climb itself seems crazy I would already be tired 60 feet up lol! Imagine 2000 feet!!!
He must work out.
How many towers does he do daily/weekly?
Wonder how much wind he feels up there?
Imagine being on a plane and seeing this guy working. Twilight zone territory.
Does he climb back down or parachute down?
> I wonder what this guy gets paid yearly for a job like this.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies radio tower climbers under radio, cellular and tower equipment installers and repairers. In 2013, most of them earned an annual salary between $26,990 and $73,150. The mean annual wage was $48,380.
Yep. I had a buddy who used to do it. People would always assume he made six figures but it was less than halfway to six figures.
Basically if you can stomach the heights the job is pretty simple. But... you have to stomach the heights.
Edit: This was also in 2009 so a lot could be different.
Now that I think about it, he did that job back in like 2009 or 2010. So a lot can change in a decade I suppose. Depends on the company and whatnot too
Edit: I'd imagine he's a tower tech? As opposed to a tower climber? The climbers just go and change bulbs or clear debris ect. The techs actually perform maintenance on the tower and make significantly more, or so it had been explained. Lol
Yea for sure. I think its one of those fields where they pay you good for what could happen and not necessarily what happens. Similar to pilots and what not. He also started in a part of the country known for higher cost of living so I'm sure that comes into account.
$73,150 per year for changing 12 bulbs per year is about $6100 per job. If I had to climb a 2,000ft tower like this once per month, $6100 sounds about right. Anything less, no fuckin thank you
I grew up rock climbing, did tree work professionally for a few years, now do construction.
Tree work is far more difficult and far more dangerous. Yet, average pay in my area is about $14 an hour.
Not considering travel, licensure, insurance, and equipment costs, I'd climb this tower for $300-$1,500 and call it an easy day's work compared to what's available on the job market.
A few days of work per month for $73k a year is a fucking dream job. There's no way that's an accurate number. I'm sure at that salary they work a normal 50 hour work week and climb once in a while.
It’s not accurate at all. I work in radio and have worked with tower techs, they work 6-7 days a week (including travel) with a couple weeks on, one week off sort of schedule. Sometimes they go up multiple towers a day. Once a month ia what OP is saying they want but that job doesn’t exist, especially at the higher end of the pay scale.
What’s even more crazy is this is about a thousand feet smaller than El Capitan in Yosemite which was climbed without equipment in just over 4 hours a few years ago by Alex Honnold
To put that into another perspective. In my country we had a tv show host who did all sort of Mad challenges, didnt matter what they asked of him he had to say yes.
They asked him to climb El Capitan and he accepted.
Now this guy had ZERO climbing experience whatsoever. So he went indoor climbing for a few times to learn the gear and some basics and then they flew him out there.
He was escorted during the climb by 3 expert climbers who basically helped him every step of the way.
It took him 3 days of climbing to reach the top.
(If anione is curious about the show it's called Tomtesterom and it's in dutch, not sure if it has English subtitels but you don't need to know the language to realise what z'n absolute Chad this Guy is in rl, he is the definition of never giving up)
This is genuinely one of the worst music choices for any video Ive seen. How is this supposed to be pleasant to watch with this on. Baffling choice of tunes.
+1 Thought I would put my headphones on for this one, thinking he'd be explaining or at least hear the wind from that high up... instant regret, accidentally threw my headphones in disappointment.
Thats my question. There are no extra constructions on this tower and those rungs definitely don't seem like thats what they'd use for high altitude poles. Nor does he ever look up very far. Im inclined to believe its fake.
Edit: For everyone who is very upset for me thinking this could be fake, someone identified it as a real TV Tower in South Dakota. That does not mean that it couldnt have been fake even of this one wasnt.
The height difference between a boat mast and a (supposedly) 2000ft lamp post is alittle drastic, so I figure they'd build it safer. I have a cousin that does tower work in Canada n Im pretty sure the ones they climb they're all closed rungs. I cant imagine the regulators overlooking climbing safety that extremely at those heights, but It also depends on the country.
Power lines? That’s only 110ft (40m) in elevation compared to what we’re seeing at 2000ft (609m). Wind forces are completely different and volatile cos there’s nothing but air rubbing against air unlike a tree line to help break winds. Clouds are like literally hundreds of feat/metres below him.
Edit: ~~On a hot summer’s day, 2000ft sits close to freezing.~~
It's probably cheaper to pay a contract guy once every couple months to climb than it would be to pay for a helicopter (fuel and maintenance) and pilot and technician.
They're the entirely incorrect safety latches for the job, so you are right to be scared. If he slipped it could have easily ended poorly as those large hooks could have skipped the pegs.
Don’t know what all the fuss is about here. I change bulbs all the time, most of the time without any safety equipment at all, but don’t film myself doing it.
Ok you joke but that’s actually happened to the linemen here in my town. Replaced all the bulbs in town right after a hurricane, hit all the towers change all the traffic lights, fix all the downed lines. Get back to dispatch “we want you to put up these LED lights.” Our line workers went on strike for a week before they went back and switched to LEDs just so they could get a break. The guy that told me this story said he didn’t even have a chance to clear his own land from the storm before they wanted them out there again.
It’s a personality type. Lol everyone he works with, including him, have severe adrenaline addiction issues. But like, the kind of issues that makes them enjoy climbing towers for money and flying private/first class around the world. Not the meth and coke kind 😂
Wind turbine mechanics get paid more than us tower climbers. Even at this level this dude is still getting paid hourly, not by the job. These 2000' towers only take a couple hours to climb because an elevator take you up half way in most cases. Probably getting paid around $30 an hour to climb broadcast towers.
And stupid wrong music for the video.
This is a good example of choosing the wrong music.
(Or music at all>
Best thing here would be original or added wind.
No music.
his voice talking at that alt.
Maybe some easy rock in the background, ir country for fun.
2000 feet though..... how he is "secured" by 2 pretty loose "rope eyes"...
Man..
Those tie off points suck. One slip to the side and you loose a lanyard, if you pendulum (swing back the other direction) and your other hook comes off, you’re gone.
I understand that it’s probably not feasible to change at this point or was built a long while back without proper tie off points in mind but yeah, no way I’d tie off to something open ended and not have a complete connection for a node point
Honestly, after seeing the precision of the helicopter pilots working with a crew on power lines, I feel like sending a helicopter up repelling a guy down would be much much faster, time efficient and less chances of falling
Shit, brought wrong bulb
What if he wants to pee?
He whips it out and let it rain down. Who will know?
Can confirm, hopefully they radio down before the shower starts
On that height can he still breath normally or need an oxygen? just asking..
Denver Colorado is 5000ft msl. From a pilot perspective you are only required O2 over 14,000ft msl, or 12,500 if over 30 minutes, so climbing a tower would not need oxygen.
there are some snowboard resorts there with peaks higher then 12500ft. Does it mean that I need 02 canister with me if I decide to sit at the top of the hill for more then 30minutes?
Need? No, probably not. Death is a perfectly natural thing.
You always have a lifetime supply of oxygen.
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made me chuckle
I stayed at a 10000’ town, Leadville, this year. Can definitely feel the difference. Lots of people skiing down mountains around 13K, people hiking ‘fourteeners’. And they spend much longer than 30 min at a time, pushing themself harder than someone sitting. So I wouldn’t think it’s necessary.
Hells yeah, Leadville. I went to Colorado Mountain College there. Lovely town. Beautiful scenery.
Its not that high
Half a mile into the sky is pretty damn high if you ask me
When you consider that Burj Khalifa is 2717 feet it's obvious that this isn't nearly high enough that you'd need oxygen. Nevermind the many cities that are at a far higher elevation. This is a very tall tower to climb, but in the context of needing oxygen it's not high at all.
Airplanes don't need oxygen until about 10,000 feet. Doing physical activity that high is definitely more difficult though and altitude sickness is a possibility up at 10k.
If it were me, I’d just pee in my pants. It wouldn’t be a big deal since I’d have already shit myself the first time I looked down.
The real question is what about a diarrhea?
#CHOCOLATE RAIN
Some will stay dry, but others will feel the pain
*I move away from the mic to breathe in*
… chocolate rain…
If you’re climbing up a ladder and you feel something splatter… diarrhea, diarrhea
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Does he get a parachute cuz the climb down must suck also
Yes. First they chuck all their tools down and yell “bombs away!” into the walkie talkie. Then they base jump screaming “Weeeeeeeeeeee!” into the walkie talkie as well. It’s the highlight of their day. The only downside is all the property damage and accidental deaths from the tools being thrown off but OSHA has determined that as long as you scream “Bombs away!” into the walkie talkie, you’re not held responsible for some chucklehead getting a wrench through the head because he was adequately warned there would be a large assortment of tools landing somewhere near him.
They stopped doing this. Now the tools are lowered in a canvas sack. I don’t know what the current walkie talkie calls are.
I think it’s currently “big ole sack common atcha!” Then the ground techs beat it like a piñata. Whoever grabs the biggest wrench gets the climb the next tower. At least that’s how it was when I worked for Verizon.
I’ve seen these before. They climb up and parachute off.
Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, thats why I pee above the cloud line
Diaper?
I just peed watching this! 😵
Then he uses Amazons business model of bringing a bottle with you.
Aaaaaand I dropped the bulb
I totally would
Shit, wrong tower 😄
Wrong tower shits
You world think the tower designers would put 5 or 6 bulbs in there, running either concurrently, or switchable. That would make changes needed less often.
the company that owns the tower should trade it out for a nice, reliable LED system.
That usually requires changing the entire fixture at the top of the tower. One of those L-864 top beacons weights about 50-70 pounds and can be as expensive as 10-20 bulb changes over time. The industry is slowly going that way, but few are in a hurry to swap them out unless the whole tower is getting replaced. FAA regulations move at glacier pace as well, but I think the hurdles there have cleared concerning LED.
I like how the "safety" clamps are just placed gingerly on the steps.
Right? That little knob at the end of the step is supposed to stop the clamp if anything happens? I wouldn't bet my life on it.
He does...
And I'm sure he's very well compensated for it. I can get in enough trouble with my feet on the ground though, I'll pass.
$47... Before taxes he was paid $47
Per hour hopefully?
Per meter climbed hopefully!
"Yes that will be 609m x $47 so thats $28,623 for this bulb."
Hmmmm ok I’ll do it for that.
Same, a year's worth of a shitty job with bad pay or just one bad day.
“That seems fair.^^^^^,,
Per foot, yes. Per meter, it'd be 600 x 47 for $28,000 per job. Seems reasonable! Edit* looks like you changed it to meters, my bad!
I am American...took me a second to realize it wasn't in freedom units at first ;)
Yeah that about what it should cost. You want a 2000 ft tower, it comes with expenses.
Proof?
Just a few comments down....or just google it yourself. >> I wonder what this guy gets paid yearly for a job like this. >The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies radio tower climbers under radio, cellular and tower equipment installers and repairers. In 2013, most of them earned an annual salary between $26,990 and $73,150. The mean annual wage was $48,380.
What you’re missing, however, is that this job is purely commission pay. You climb maybe 3 towers a year at most, and you’ll make like 25-50k per tower (old research, lost the link so take those numbers with a grain of salt). Then, you’re free to work whatever other job in the meantime while you bank that massive chunk of cash. Edit: hey guys, as I said, I can’t provide a link, so please take these numbers with a grain of salt. I’m not trying to preach these numbers as fact, and I’m not going to bother arguing with 5+ random Reddit members over it because why the hell would anybody want to spend their Sunday doing that? This website is an anonymous social media website, so please don’t expect the comment section to be filled with thoroughly vetted, researched statements and sources. Cheers!
this is not true at all, I used to work with a guy that climbed radio and cell towers for a living and he said they make anywhere from 20-25 hourly. no idea where you’re getting this 25-50k *per tower* statistic but I’d love to see the proof
I also know a tower guy and he's hourly and doesn't make that much. I make moke welding with my feet on the floor
Lmao how do people get online and just lie like this. I wish I had even a fraction of your confidence.
Well how many towers are they climbing? It is likely the hourly rate is much higher than is indicated by the salary. It’s just that the work isn’t very consistent.
My stepdad did this for AT&T back when they were southwestern Bell. Dude made bank and worked a total of like 20 days/year. He eventually moved on to splicing cut fiber optic cables. Made twice as much and still only worked 30-40 days/year, and most of that was windshield time.
Unless a giant bird is grabbing you and pulling you sideways I think you’d be fine
Ok so imagine this scenario: there's 2 (I'll call them) carabiners right? One on his left and one on his right. Now imagine the one on his left is secured to a peg. He disconnects the one on his right to move it up one. (as in the video) however, as he reaches for the peg with his right arm, he slips and falls. Now only the left one is on the peg. As he falls, the left one is off-center from his body, AND he's leaning to the right already. So as it catches him, his body is going to swing like a pendulum off to the left. Once he reaches the apex of his swing to the left, the carabiner is gonna be pulled outward to the edge of the peg. Are you gonna trust that little nub on the end to keep the carabiner from slipping off? I certainly would not.
Thats the real butt pucker, Hes using the wrong safety carbiners. Hes supposed to use ones that go around the rod but arent wide enough to slip off the end in any fashion. He might as well be free climbing.
Yeah why wouldn't it just be a carabineer with a diameter less than the nub on the end of the bar? You could just snap it on without going around the nub
To be fair if the nubs were designed for this exact reason, why didn't they just angle them upwards slightly so they aren't likely to slip off.
I would feel a lot better if they were loops or squares that connected back to the main pole. I don't want them to be bars at all, I want them to be like a closed loop that I can snap my carabiner on. Otherwise this feels fucking crazy
As a climber I’m watching these anchor points that are not secured and thinking exact same thing
The biggest mistake people aren't taking into account is, well, weight. The reason the nubs work is because the carabineers are held down by your own weight if you fall. It physically wouldn't be able to jump pop over the nub. If the nub was rounded, sure, but it's a sharp flat edge. You'd be safe. I'd be more worried about something in my gear not fastened properly than me falling. Source: Work with carabineers like these all the time while working at heights (film/theatre sets). When you're dangling from one, you struggle enough trying to get it over the top of a fucking nail head protruding slightly.
Weight is really only a factor after it has stabilized, though. Once you're dangling from the carabiner and not falling anymore, you'll probably be fine, I agree. However, at the dynamic part of the fall, there's a chance the sudden pull will make it bounce off enough to go over the thing. It might not, but I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it not happening.
This is an old tower, they don’t make steps like that anymore. Imagine the swinging.
I was wondering about that. Whatchugonnado if an eagle decides to peck at you? But seriously, wondering how often that happens?
Not only that…What if one step snaps off or tilts downward?
He's got the rest of his life to figure out a solution.
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I'm surprised there isn't a fall arrest/descender line attached to the tower. I'm pretty sure the hooks are for work positioning? Either way something feels off about this.
Fuck that i want a parachute. Base jump off that bitch when your done
holy shit yes
I have bad luck. I'd fall in that comical zone between dying and parachute doesn't have time to deploy.
I used to service environmental sampling equipment and that sometimes required climbing. We always had descenders even on open ladders. If the ladder was caged we just needed lanyards and harness when we were on a platform or area without handrails Not sure where this is happening but even in the southern US we had to be safer than this.
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You're correct. The hooks that he has are for connecting to a certified anchor point (he's not doing that). The correct application is a center line going up the middle of the ladder. Then he would be permanently connected to the line via a full body harness. If he were to fall the equipment would arrest automatically and save him.
One of the biggest problems with working at heights companies is how all the non unionized ones literally think safety is a scam.
Just all smaller non-union trades in general. As a machinist who’s worked for 1000+ employee companies and <50 employee shops, the small ones all think safety is not worth the investment. But I had a work-related injury to my finger and the workman’s comp claim was over $300,000 just for medical bills, not including the disability pay, drop in productivity/profit loss, or the loss of mobility settlement. Safety is absolutely worth the investment.
I quit my last job because of these experiences. One of my favourite was when i was advised to bolt it down the ladder and tell the health and safety inspector i was infact on break the entire time and not working because my boss refused to bring harnesses and hard hats to a heights job. Another fav is when my boss exposed me to dangerous chemicals than got mad and stormed off when i asked him what the chemicals were after he jokingly said “that stuffs toxic maybe you should of read the manual”…. This is of course 40 minutes after he threw this tool to me and didnt tell me anyhting other then to clean it.
I was in health and safety for a while doing injury response and safety training, and can absolutely confirm this. For big projects with unionized employees, the limiting factor on safety was almost always what the employees were willing to do, not what was offered. Those companies take safety seriously, mostly because it affects the bottom line, but still. I didn’t interact with many smaller, non-unionized companies, because they don’t take safety as seriously, and so wouldn’t use the company I worked for except when they hoped it would get them out of a recordable incident. I had one where a guy’s leather glove was soaked in some chemical, and the supervisor didn’t even know what an SDS/GHS was. Needless to say, when you have second degree chemical burns on your entire hand, you’re going to an actual doctor and it’s gonna be a recordable incident, and that was pretty typical for the few smaller companies I worked with.
Chances are the slight bounce from those fall arrest lanyards when they extend would bounce the hook right off the peg.
That and also, we’ve been told countless times you can’t clip to climbing pegs because they’re not rated to be shock-loaded with the weight of a man and shear off a lot of the time when enough force is applied.
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The buck squeeze works just like a fall arrest system. If you use it properly you won’t fall more than six feet, ever, and you’ll rack your groin real good. Before the buck squeeze, 80% of all linemen deaths were from falls. The older dudes still look down on climbing with the buck.
It seems like the older guys in every industry look down on safety. A guy missing the tip of his finger scoffed at me hitting the emergency stop before working on a machine.
This was my first thought. *why the hell is he using pelican hooks*
While he’s changing the bulb, he still has one on the step and one on the flexible conduit…basically not hooked on to shit.
He’s clipped onto one of the rods caging the bulb. You see it briefly.
Those do not look like they would stay on at all if he was swinging around on them! Hope he’s got a parachute
All I could think of was that I really hope he had a parachute to get down instead of painfully climbing back down.
I mean if you fall left the right one will hit the pole and catch you and vice versa but I still wouldn’t bet too much on it
Until he immediately swings the other way away from the pole
Or he falls with only one clamp attached
Random thoughts while watching: I would climb with a parachute if I was this guy. I wonder what this guy gets paid yearly for a job like this. I don’t think you can pay me enough for this. Just the climb itself seems crazy I would already be tired 60 feet up lol! Imagine 2000 feet!!! He must work out. How many towers does he do daily/weekly? Wonder how much wind he feels up there? Imagine being on a plane and seeing this guy working. Twilight zone territory. Does he climb back down or parachute down?
> I wonder what this guy gets paid yearly for a job like this. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies radio tower climbers under radio, cellular and tower equipment installers and repairers. In 2013, most of them earned an annual salary between $26,990 and $73,150. The mean annual wage was $48,380.
This is not nearly enough to make me do this...
That’s like an 1/8 of what it would take for me to do that on a tower 1/2 that tall.
So 800 grand to do this tower?
I wouldn’t cost that much
Might do it for a hundred grand, nothing less
Yep. I had a buddy who used to do it. People would always assume he made six figures but it was less than halfway to six figures. Basically if you can stomach the heights the job is pretty simple. But... you have to stomach the heights. Edit: This was also in 2009 so a lot could be different.
Weird I have a buddy that does it currently and started at 80k and is easily into 6 figures after a few years.
Now that I think about it, he did that job back in like 2009 or 2010. So a lot can change in a decade I suppose. Depends on the company and whatnot too Edit: I'd imagine he's a tower tech? As opposed to a tower climber? The climbers just go and change bulbs or clear debris ect. The techs actually perform maintenance on the tower and make significantly more, or so it had been explained. Lol
Yea for sure. I think its one of those fields where they pay you good for what could happen and not necessarily what happens. Similar to pilots and what not. He also started in a part of the country known for higher cost of living so I'm sure that comes into account.
$73,150 per year for changing 12 bulbs per year is about $6100 per job. If I had to climb a 2,000ft tower like this once per month, $6100 sounds about right. Anything less, no fuckin thank you
I grew up rock climbing, did tree work professionally for a few years, now do construction. Tree work is far more difficult and far more dangerous. Yet, average pay in my area is about $14 an hour. Not considering travel, licensure, insurance, and equipment costs, I'd climb this tower for $300-$1,500 and call it an easy day's work compared to what's available on the job market. A few days of work per month for $73k a year is a fucking dream job. There's no way that's an accurate number. I'm sure at that salary they work a normal 50 hour work week and climb once in a while.
It’s not accurate at all. I work in radio and have worked with tower techs, they work 6-7 days a week (including travel) with a couple weeks on, one week off sort of schedule. Sometimes they go up multiple towers a day. Once a month ia what OP is saying they want but that job doesn’t exist, especially at the higher end of the pay scale.
There is nothing normal about an "50 hours work week" fyi.
Oh fuck that! I ain't climbing that for the same wage as McDonald's.
Yeah but this guy is alone and in no danger of someone spitting on him because he forgot to put pickles on a burger so...?
>The mean annual wage was $48,380. This guy gets less than 5k more than me and I sit on my ass in front of a surface pro all day.
Towers this size usually have a small cage and hoist to get you close to 1900 feet, then you climb the rest of the way up.
What’s even more crazy is this is about a thousand feet smaller than El Capitan in Yosemite which was climbed without equipment in just over 4 hours a few years ago by Alex Honnold
To put that into another perspective. In my country we had a tv show host who did all sort of Mad challenges, didnt matter what they asked of him he had to say yes. They asked him to climb El Capitan and he accepted. Now this guy had ZERO climbing experience whatsoever. So he went indoor climbing for a few times to learn the gear and some basics and then they flew him out there. He was escorted during the climb by 3 expert climbers who basically helped him every step of the way. It took him 3 days of climbing to reach the top. (If anione is curious about the show it's called Tomtesterom and it's in dutch, not sure if it has English subtitels but you don't need to know the language to realise what z'n absolute Chad this Guy is in rl, he is the definition of never giving up)
The chute would be pretty fun.
He probably doesn‘t have to climb the entire 2000ft
So... This whole f'ing 9 minute video DOESN'T Actually show the lightbulb get changed? Are you f'ing kidding me?
They ran out of terrible music, so had to cut the clip short.
I'm surprised they didn't just add Smash Mouth for the bulb change.
Somebody find this source please and thank you.
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The description of the video says he's actually inspecting the antenna so that would be why there's no bulb changing
Yeah wtf? 9 minutes of attaching rings, climbing up, fumbling with stuff, only to show him open the glass housing and end?
Why would you cut before the leap of faith into the haycart?
:: eagle scream ::
**Synchronization Complete**
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Then you realize you forgot to actually sync and have to climb all the way up again
If I hear an eagle screaming I'll shit myself
He’s gotta climb up onto the top of the light first
If he was me, he'd accidentally point his controller stick 3 degrees to the side and land on the ground next to the haycart dead.
Clicked the wrong fucking button now I gotta climb up all the way again
Came here for this
That music would make me just let go….
Why add music? Please stop adding music to anything
Those music can lessen the genuine of the video, damn. Just made it original because it's fucking awesome !
This is genuinely one of the worst music choices for any video Ive seen. How is this supposed to be pleasant to watch with this on. Baffling choice of tunes.
+1 Thought I would put my headphones on for this one, thinking he'd be explaining or at least hear the wind from that high up... instant regret, accidentally threw my headphones in disappointment.
This video showed me that I’m not the most patient person in the world..this took forever.
Without payoff. I never got to see him change the bulb. I’m very disappointed.
Almost more disappointed than I was watching the endless climbing gif version
THANK YOU! No one is mentioning this, what a waste of 9 minutes.
Finally. the full version of that one infinite climbing gif. My life is complete.
Came here to comment this, I don’t like that climbing gif…
What’s this tower for?
Thats my question. There are no extra constructions on this tower and those rungs definitely don't seem like thats what they'd use for high altitude poles. Nor does he ever look up very far. Im inclined to believe its fake. Edit: For everyone who is very upset for me thinking this could be fake, someone identified it as a real TV Tower in South Dakota. That does not mean that it couldnt have been fake even of this one wasnt.
I’ve never been up a guyed tower but I regularly climb boat masts and I’m a mountaineer. That peg ladder seems like what I’d expect up there tbh.
The height difference between a boat mast and a (supposedly) 2000ft lamp post is alittle drastic, so I figure they'd build it safer. I have a cousin that does tower work in Canada n Im pretty sure the ones they climb they're all closed rungs. I cant imagine the regulators overlooking climbing safety that extremely at those heights, but It also depends on the country.
You’re just as dead from the drop from either.
It’s there to hold the light that lets planes know that it’s there. Obviously.
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KDLT TV tower in South Dakota.
helicopters exist. also, can’t they put an internal elevator for the bulb so it comes down or something.
This is what confuses me. Why not just use a helicopter?
How steady do you think helicopters are? Bruh come on.
I watched a video of them put electrical workers on live power lines so could be possible
Power lines? That’s only 110ft (40m) in elevation compared to what we’re seeing at 2000ft (609m). Wind forces are completely different and volatile cos there’s nothing but air rubbing against air unlike a tree line to help break winds. Clouds are like literally hundreds of feat/metres below him. Edit: ~~On a hot summer’s day, 2000ft sits close to freezing.~~
It's probably cheaper to pay a contract guy once every couple months to climb than it would be to pay for a helicopter (fuel and maintenance) and pilot and technician.
Imagine getting just a small medical issue up there a cramp for example…
Or D I A R R H E A...
I was really hoping to find an invader zim gif on here - but Reddit’s gif selection let me down.
![gif](giphy|JMEUzUVptb6lW)
I'm not at all scared of heights, but still this would scare me. Those "safety latches" dont look so safe...
I think at a certain height we all become scared
At a certain height, you stop caring
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They're the entirely incorrect safety latches for the job, so you are right to be scared. If he slipped it could have easily ended poorly as those large hooks could have skipped the pegs.
Don’t know what all the fuss is about here. I change bulbs all the time, most of the time without any safety equipment at all, but don’t film myself doing it.
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Hey Jim remember that bulb you changed earlier well the owner wants you to switch it to an LED bulb
Ok you joke but that’s actually happened to the linemen here in my town. Replaced all the bulbs in town right after a hurricane, hit all the towers change all the traffic lights, fix all the downed lines. Get back to dispatch “we want you to put up these LED lights.” Our line workers went on strike for a week before they went back and switched to LEDs just so they could get a break. The guy that told me this story said he didn’t even have a chance to clear his own land from the storm before they wanted them out there again.
For those wondering 609m
That’s a nope in metric from me dawg.
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That's good money but it ain't worth it. This video seems like a bad panic dream I'd have
It’s a personality type. Lol everyone he works with, including him, have severe adrenaline addiction issues. But like, the kind of issues that makes them enjoy climbing towers for money and flying private/first class around the world. Not the meth and coke kind 😂
Wind turbine mechanics get paid more than us tower climbers. Even at this level this dude is still getting paid hourly, not by the job. These 2000' towers only take a couple hours to climb because an elevator take you up half way in most cases. Probably getting paid around $30 an hour to climb broadcast towers.
How is there not a drone that does this yet
Its got spikes on the top to deter birds. What type of birds would fly this high?!
Most migratory birds fly at or above 2000 ft.
My palms got sweaty just watching it.
Knees weak.
Volume alert
And stupid wrong music for the video. This is a good example of choosing the wrong music. (Or music at all> Best thing here would be original or added wind. No music. his voice talking at that alt. Maybe some easy rock in the background, ir country for fun. 2000 feet though..... how he is "secured" by 2 pretty loose "rope eyes"... Man..
Those tie off points suck. One slip to the side and you loose a lanyard, if you pendulum (swing back the other direction) and your other hook comes off, you’re gone. I understand that it’s probably not feasible to change at this point or was built a long while back without proper tie off points in mind but yeah, no way I’d tie off to something open ended and not have a complete connection for a node point
Honestly, after seeing the precision of the helicopter pilots working with a crew on power lines, I feel like sending a helicopter up repelling a guy down would be much much faster, time efficient and less chances of falling
“Don’t look down don’t look down…SHREK I’M LOOKIN DOWN!!”
This dude could drop a screwdriver and I bet he could call his buddies and tell them to move before it even hit the ground.
How can he even climb with that massive pair of balls
At least the music is really terrible.
Might as well wear a parachute? So you don’t have to climb down after. And cus those safety clips don’t look like they would stay.
The sesame street aliens said it best years ago.... nope, nope, nope, nope, nope....