Interesting job
Posted: March 29, 2006, 4:21 pm
No fucking thanks.
I wonder how he gets up there though? Does he have to climb the whole thing or does a chopper set him down on a platform halfway up or something?
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Posted: March 29, 2006, 5:12 pm
Posted: March 29, 2006, 5:23 pm
Heh, I was expecting it to zoom out to show some long distance to the ground but I wasn't expecting it to be anywhere near that high.
Posted: March 29, 2006, 5:45 pm
that would be so awesome.
Posted: March 29, 2006, 5:47 pm
Jim Guentzel readily admits he gets high on the job, really high.
Guentzel works for Tri-State Communication Services and changes light bulbs at the very top of television towers.
Those light bulbs are more than 1/4 of a mile up in the sky, and while the view from his "office" is spectacular, it's not one many people could be paid to see.
And Guentzel is paid $600 a day to climb to the top of the world, secured only by his harness.
The climb does take the better part of a day. Guentzel goes straight up, reattaching his harness cables with each new rung.
Posted: March 29, 2006, 5:51 pm
All that re-attaching would be tedious as fuck, but I would totally do that for a living.
Posted: March 29, 2006, 6:01 pm
I have to agree...that would an awesome job.
Posted: March 29, 2006, 6:10 pm
He should parachute down to save time.
Posted: March 29, 2006, 11:40 pm
That sounds like a good idea until you jump off the tower and the wind slams you back into it.Winnow wrote:He should parachute down to save time.
I don't think you'd be able to get enough clearance horizontally away from the tower to parachute off without it being pretty risky, would you?Posted: March 29, 2006, 11:57 pm
I wonder if on bad days/Mondays he gets to the top and finds that he forgot the new lightbulb.... 
Posted: March 29, 2006, 11:58 pm
Base jumpers do it all the time.Xouqoa wrote:That sounds like a good idea until you jump off the tower and the wind slams you back into it.Winnow wrote:He should parachute down to save time.
Posted: March 30, 2006, 12:42 am
Not to mention you'd be landing in a major city.Xouqoa wrote:That sounds like a good idea until you jump off the tower and the wind slams you back into it.Winnow wrote:He should parachute down to save time.
Landing in traffic, or on top of another building just doesn't seem very practical.
Then again, Winnow isn't much for practicality.
Posted: March 30, 2006, 2:57 am
that looks like it would be sweet to do once. just once.
Posted: March 30, 2006, 3:27 am
I doubt he could go a year without a failed parachute.
Posted: March 30, 2006, 4:43 am
Have a bad day at work for most people? Have a drink or do something else to relax and go get em' the next day. Have a bad day at that job and there is no next day. Fuck that job, no thanks.
Posted: March 31, 2006, 6:18 pm
One of the most astonishing things I've seen on those video clip sites. 
Posted: March 31, 2006, 7:03 pm
hey do you think you could word that in a way that insults the united states?Nick wrote:One of the most astonishing things I've seen on those video clip sites.
Posted: March 31, 2006, 8:34 pm
LOL.cadalano wrote:hey do you think you could word that in a way that insults the united states?Nick wrote:One of the most astonishing things I've seen on those video clip sites.
Posted: April 1, 2006, 5:22 am
Climbing a 1500' tower without any gear but a parachute (10lbs) takes about 1 hour 15min. The jump down is about a 10 sec freefall with 5-15 seconds under canopy. People jump towers all the time, of my 110 BASE jumps, towers make up nearly half.
As for the failed parachute comment, BASE canopies almost never fail. Having your parachute open facing the object on a low altitude jump is the #1 killer. While it's true that you're almost guaranteed serious hospital time (think ICU) if you become a BASE jumper, I can think of a couple of people who have over 500 jumps without injury (for reference, 1500 is the most jumps anyone has). There hasn't been a death in BASE due to gear failure in over 10 years.
Also, we always jump with the wind at our back, so we're being blown away from the object. I've only jumped bridges in a headwind. To whoever commented on the landing area, that one is huuuuge. For something like that you can just turn back and land towards the tower, as there's so much space (usually field) around them. As of now, my most technical landing area was an area about 6' wide and 40' long, with trees on one side and a ravine on the other. We're used to tight landing areas.
By the way, that job is the most dangerous job in the US as of 2005. People climbing cell towers (the little 200-300' ones that are triangular with a platform thing on top) die at the rate of about 2-4 a month.
PS hi everybody
As for the failed parachute comment, BASE canopies almost never fail. Having your parachute open facing the object on a low altitude jump is the #1 killer. While it's true that you're almost guaranteed serious hospital time (think ICU) if you become a BASE jumper, I can think of a couple of people who have over 500 jumps without injury (for reference, 1500 is the most jumps anyone has). There hasn't been a death in BASE due to gear failure in over 10 years.
Also, we always jump with the wind at our back, so we're being blown away from the object. I've only jumped bridges in a headwind. To whoever commented on the landing area, that one is huuuuge. For something like that you can just turn back and land towards the tower, as there's so much space (usually field) around them. As of now, my most technical landing area was an area about 6' wide and 40' long, with trees on one side and a ravine on the other. We're used to tight landing areas.
By the way, that job is the most dangerous job in the US as of 2005. People climbing cell towers (the little 200-300' ones that are triangular with a platform thing on top) die at the rate of about 2-4 a month.
PS hi everybody
Posted: April 1, 2006, 10:32 am
damn that is sweet. I bet Xouqoa and Truant feel like a couple of pussies nowOliadar wrote:Climbing a 1500' tower without any gear but a parachute (10lbs) takes about 1 hour 15min. The jump down is about a 10 sec freefall with 5-15 seconds under canopy. People jump towers all the time, of my 110 BASE jumps, towers make up nearly half.
As for the failed parachute comment, BASE canopies almost never fail. Having your parachute open facing the object on a low altitude jump is the #1 killer. While it's true that you're almost guaranteed serious hospital time (think ICU) if you become a BASE jumper, I can think of a couple of people who have over 500 jumps without injury (for reference, 1500 is the most jumps anyone has). There hasn't been a death in BASE due to gear failure in over 10 years.
Also, we always jump with the wind at our back, so we're being blown away from the object. I've only jumped bridges in a headwind. To whoever commented on the landing area, that one is huuuuge. For something like that you can just turn back and land towards the tower, as there's so much space (usually field) around them. As of now, my most technical landing area was an area about 6' wide and 40' long, with trees on one side and a ravine on the other. We're used to tight landing areas.
By the way, that job is the most dangerous job in the US as of 2005. People climbing cell towers (the little 200-300' ones that are triangular with a platform thing on top) die at the rate of about 2-4 a month.
PS hi everybody
Posted: April 1, 2006, 11:33 am
LOL! 
Posted: April 1, 2006, 5:26 pm
Why? It's not like the technicalities of BASE jumping are common knowledge. Even most skydivers don't fully understand how we assess objects and go about planning things. Truant is actually pretty accurate with cars. Cars can't see you due to their vision restraints and normal habits (no one is looking up for us). If a street is your primary landing area, you make sure there's either no cars or a red light. Building landings, while not practical, can and have been done, just not on purposecadalano wrote: damn that is sweet. I bet Xouqoa and Truant feel like a couple of pussies now
Posted: April 1, 2006, 5:51 pm
yeah
i was just sassin' the boys. thats all.
i was just sassin' the boys. thats all.
Posted: April 2, 2006, 2:05 pm
A used to be friends with a couple of base jumpers.It's not like the technicalities of BASE jumping are common knowledge. Even most skydivers don't fully understand how we assess objects and go about planning things.
They were obsessively meticulous when it came to planning their jumps... even moreso when it came to packing their chute.
I had the priviledge of going along on a few jumps with them (to shoot video). Breaking into the buildings (under construction), going up with them and watching them jump was very cool. Hauling ass back down and getting the hell out before the cops came was a major rush.
Posted: April 2, 2006, 2:48 pm
What area, Miir? I probably know them somehow.
Posted: April 2, 2006, 8:28 pm
haha!cadalano wrote:yeah
i was just sassin' the boys. thats all.
and STAY down!
Posted: April 3, 2006, 12:41 am
Toronto... and this was over 10 years ago... back when they didn't have 24h security on building construction sites.Oliadar wrote:What area, Miir? I probably know them somehow.
Posted: April 3, 2006, 12:48 am
You say that like it makes jumping impossible... Anyhow, it's cool knowing that someone else here is somehow related to BASE. VV is probably the last place I expected to find anything.miir wrote:Toronto... and this was over 10 years ago... back when they didn't have 24h security on building construction sites.