Jump to content

Line truck


Recommended Posts

I have a very healthy respect for heights, and generally take reasonable precautions and care in climbing. Usually.

I did communications contracting for most of my adult career, and climbing towers was a large part of that work. I never had to climb any of the really tall towers. My dad on the other hand on several occasions had to climb towers to over 500 feet! I think the highest I ever had to go up a tower was about 200 feet. There was one tower that we installed that topped out at 150 feet, which we serviced for over twenty years. I went clear to the top of that tower hundreds of times! A well built properly guyed tower is fairly stable, and for me comfortable to be near the top. The scariest tower I was ever on was just over 30 feet tall, on a hillside and very unstable, leaning over a good ten feet! Felt like it was going to buckle over every second I was on it, and the way it was leaning on the hillside a lot more than thirty feet down!

We didn't climb towers all the time, and only carried the belts when we expected to need them (riding around in a service truck is not good for the belts!). Often, when I would discover that a problem was "up there", and I didn't have the belt with me? I climbed the towers without a belt. (OSHA would have freaked out if they had known at that time!) But I knew how, and I was careful when doing so.

 

I also on a few occasions put my extension ladders in the back of my pickup truck if it was just two feet too short. And a few times had to lean ladders agains the strand between poles if that was where a problem was.

 

My eldest son was really into rock climbing for many years. He climbed "Half Dome" in Yosemite a few times. Kind of a funny thing. I just never could see the fun in rock climbing? After climbing towers literally hundreds of times? It just looked like work to me?

 

 

 

Edited by wayne sheldon
I hate leaving typos! (see edit history)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...