# Climbing a Transmission Tower **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 15, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872 "2010-09-15T17:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/1 "2010-09-15T17:57:12Z")
[link to video removed, because the video is gone] Thank Og someone has the balls to do this job! I could handle the first part, where he is inside the tower, but even watching a video of climbing around on a tiny little pole 1700 feet in the air terrifies me. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/2 "2010-09-15T18:25:33Z")
That gave me the willies just watching it. There is no way in hell I could do that job. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/3 "2010-09-15T18:31:15Z")
Egads! That made me feel dizzy. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/4 "2010-09-15T18:35:06Z")
No chance. That doesn’t look really safe either. He doesn’t appear to be tying off and it looks like a storm is coming in. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/5 "2010-09-15T20:12:40Z")
There is absolutely no way in hell I could ever do that job. Holy crap that’s vertigo-tastic. Brrrrrrrr…that is a LONG way down. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/6 "2010-09-15T20:23:45Z")
For God’s sake, can someone please post a video of a small child getting mutilated? I need a more pleasant image in my head. Watching that, felt this jolt throughout my entire body, and it’s not going away. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/7 "2010-09-15T20:39:20Z")
I would rather dance naked through the cafeteria at work singing “The hills are alive with the sound of muuusssic!” while sporting a raging erection. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/8 "2010-09-15T20:43:02Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I would rather dance naked through the cafeteria at work singing “The hills are alive with the sound of muuusssic!” while sporting a raging erection. [Tobias Funke]Me too![/Tobias Funke] ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/9 "2010-09-15T20:54:57Z")
I thought the helmet cam was a little annoying (not really anyone’s fault, I dare say) and that led to most of the disorientation of it. But look at it this way, these guys do it all the time and there are thousands of these towers throughout the world and you don’t hear of people falling off. Therefore I put forward that it is quite safe and not as scary as presented. I could climb all the way to the top, but not stand on the light- I want a little bit more mass beside me than that. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/10 "2010-09-15T20:59:33Z")
Oh great: now who’s going to clean this up? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/11 "2010-09-15T21:01:16Z")
tower monkeys do an important job in this age of radio. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/12 "2010-09-15T23:06:14Z")
Looks like the video is gone ☹ Original creator didn’t want it online anymore. [http://www.theonlineengineer.org/TheOLEBLOG/](http://www.theonlineengineer.org/TheOLEBLOG/) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/13 "2010-09-16T00:40:10Z")
I didn’t get a chance to see the video, but I often find myself looking up at those towers and wondering what it would be like to climb them, and I don’t think I’d be too afraid after the first few steps (certainly much less afraid with a safety harness!) I’m not afraid of heights, and tend to like being up high somewhere! ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/14 "2010-09-16T00:51:19Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > But look at it this way, these guys do it all the time and there are thousands of these towers throughout the world and you don’t hear of people falling off. Therefore I put forward that it is quite safe and not as scary as presented. Except, > [@Russell Brown / theonlineengineer.org](#): > > On Monday he was getting calls from colleagues telling him that they were concerned about what the video showed. His world is a very small on,e and you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you! Some facility owners are pretty uptight about liability and such and may not hire him if they think he does not take safety seriously. > > So he asked me to take it down, and I did. > … > Once again I am sorry about pulling the video, I know that every time I looked at it my legs got weak, there’s no way I could do that type of work. AND THATS MY POINT – I need this guy who made the video, we plan to do more of them, but it won’t happen if he can’t get work because he’s been black listed by the industry. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/15 "2010-09-16T00:55:37Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@Disheavel](#): > > > > But look at it this way, these guys do it all the time and there are thousands of these towers throughout the world and you don’t hear of people falling off. Therefore I put forward that it is quite safe and not as scary as presented. > > Except, > > > [@Russell Brown / theonlineengineer.org](#): > > > > On Monday he was getting calls from colleagues telling him that they were concerned about what the video showed. His world is a very small on,e and you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you! Some facility owners are pretty uptight about liability and such and may not hire him if they think he does not take safety seriously. > > > > So he asked me to take it down, and I did. > > … > > Once again I am sorry about pulling the video, I know that every time I looked at it my legs got weak, there’s no way I could do that type of work. AND THATS MY POINT – I need this guy who made the video, we plan to do more of them, but it won’t happen if he can’t get work because he’s been black listed by the industry. Wow, interesting. So he _wasn’t_ tying off like he should have. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/16 "2010-09-16T00:57:06Z")
Growing up in rural Manitoba, climbing hydro transmission towers was one of many stupid pastimes of my brother, our friends and me. It’s pretty exhilarating, though extremely dangerous. I’m not sure I even made it to 100 feet, because I was hard-wired correctly and found it quite scary. Others among us would get all the way up to the top, which was terrifying to watch. In my brother’s case, that love of heights was part of what led him to sky-diving. On a similar note, I was disappointed not to find YouTube footage of the kids from the Kahnewake reserve racing their bikes along the struts of the Mercier Bridge, nor any film footage of their high steel work. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/17 "2010-09-16T02:15:59Z")
Just clicked on the link and got this: > [@](#): > > This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by [TheOnLineEngineer.org](http://TheOnLineEngineer.org). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/18 "2010-09-16T02:26:34Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Just clicked on the link and got this: > > > [@](#): > > > > This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by [TheOnLineEngineer.org](http://TheOnLineEngineer.org). You don’t say? Pssst. See post 12. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/19 "2010-09-16T02:47:42Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > > [@Daylate](#): > > > > Just clicked on the link and got this: > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by [TheOnLineEngineer.org](http://TheOnLineEngineer.org). > > You don’t say? > > Pssst. See post 12. Good username/post combo, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872/20 "2010-09-16T12:06:10Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Just clicked on the link and got this: > > > [@](#): > > > > This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by [TheOnLineEngineer.org](http://TheOnLineEngineer.org). The OP reported the thread and asked that we close it after the video was removed, but since people are still talking I’ve left it open. I’ll adjust the OP to reflect the fact that the video is gone. **twickster** , MPSIMS moderator [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-a-transmission-tower/553872.md?page=2)