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rocko
Jun 5, 2003, 8:15 PM
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i think its the next evolution of climbing
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colin
Jun 5, 2003, 8:16 PM
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i used an elevator once.
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keinangst
Jun 5, 2003, 9:30 PM
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I saw these 2 guys doing it once. They had rigged up a sweet portaledge/ascender device, and they stopped every 10' or so to rest.
They even cleaned the outside of the building, I guess it helped with the smearing or something...
Funny, the cops didn't seem to care.
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philbox
Moderator
Jun 5, 2003, 10:00 PM
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I`ve had to do just that on a couple of jobs. What I had to do was to aid climb underneath the roof of a cement silo. The roof was concrete that had been laid over a metal formwork which stayed in place after pouring. This metal ceiling had keys in it that acdcepted number five nuts perfectly. The silo was 90 metres high and was filled with cement dust so stuffing up and falling into that powder was not an option. I had three aiders and adjustable daiseys to work with at all times. I also was set up with a double rope system and a third rope for pulling gear in.
As I worked my way across the ceiling I would encounter large steel beams that I would have to go under and then up the other side of to again worrk my way across this metal ceiling. Quite fun actually but way hot in the breathing apparatus and full body overalls and gloves and face hood. As I moved across I would displace clouds of cement dust particularly at the RSJ beams.
So not only was this job an aid climbing exercise we had to put up with all the confined spaces rigmarole. Hah, I found that when moving around and under the large RSJ beams an ice axe came in real handy to place and retrieve the nuts I was using. The nuts were placed by simply fitting in the key and then rotating 90 degrees and then tugging to set the nut. Worked a treat.
The one bad thing out of all this is that after 12 months I still haven`t been paid for that job, grrrrr.
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olympicmtnboy
Jun 5, 2003, 10:20 PM
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George Willig climbed the empire state building in 1977 using homemade ascenders that fit in the tracks between panels. That's kind of aiding. Check out his book about it, "Going it Alone".
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swanberger
Jun 5, 2003, 11:13 PM
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some dude aid climbed the world trade centers a few years back. he used teh window washing grooves in the side of the building. he got like a $1.13 fine, one cent for every floor.
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cjcalls
Jun 5, 2003, 11:18 PM
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I get to do it almost every day with my job.
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rockmx
Jun 5, 2003, 11:34 PM
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No!
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keinangst
Jun 6, 2003, 12:09 AM
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In reply to: some dude aid climbed the world trade centers a few years back. he used teh window washing grooves in the side of the building. he got like a $1.13 fine, one cent for every floor.
Alain Robert, the insane French spiderman. And it was technically a free solo, 1500' crack climb (even though he didn't have to jam, the channels have an inside edge).
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gunkiemike
Jun 6, 2003, 12:42 AM
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I climbed the science bldg in college. It was poured concrete and had regular 1" diameter x 1" deep round holes every three feet (from the wires that held the concrete forms together when it was ppoured). I cut pieces of dead wood (tree branches of the appropriate size, tapered slightly) and hammered them into the holes then tied them off. They were bomber for bodyweight but I knew I couldn't fall on them. Besides, most of them were the wrong diameter and I had to backclean extensively. I think I ended up doing the 40' wall on 4 pegs total. That was 25+ years ago and I've never done anything like that since.
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rocko
Jun 6, 2003, 12:20 PM
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wow this backfired worse than a 73 pickup full of inbred strippers.
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karlbaba
Jun 6, 2003, 2:20 PM
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I got busted in college in 1978 for doing a skyhook traverse out the third floor window of my college dorm lounge.
It was gripping! The hooks were chipping away at the 1/2 inch ledge and I retreated after awhile before I could whip!
Peace
Karl
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euroford
Jun 9, 2003, 6:10 PM
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i've used hooks to aid up on stone panels and aluminum glazing systems while inspecting buildings. i clip the window washer tie-backs (typicaly every other floor) for pro. i get to do it a couple times a year depending on what type of buildings i run into.
generally i just rapell, and if they have one, house rigs rule!
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pico23
Jun 9, 2003, 7:25 PM
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In reply to: I think I ended up doing the 40' wall on 4 pegs total. That was 25+ years ago and I've never done anything like that since.
[quote="karlbaba"] I got busted in college in 1978 for doing a skyhook traverse out the third floor window of my college dorm lounge. [/qoute]
:shock: You guys are old (but still climbing)!!!! I was still being breast fed in 1978 :wink: . When I was a kid (just a few years ago) my friends and I would climb the water tower (maybe 150 feet), the high tension powerlines (not all the way to the lines give us a little credit), the school buildings to the roofs which were as much as 3 stories (the windows on schools are for some reason designed to be climbed), telephone poles (again not all the way to the power lines), and of course trees. Although our favorite activity was urban spelunking. You know, crawling through the street drainedge system and then popping out of man hole covers (those things weight about 60+ pounds) like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 8)
Actually our favorite activity was making my brother jump off the roof with an assortment of homemade parachutes that we swore to him would work every single time. And every single time he'd take a 20 footer onto the grass or occasionally we'd be nice to him and let him take a 12 footer of the garage roof onto the driveway :lol: . Damn, we were sure we'd eventually be able to make one work. :twisted:
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pirate
Jun 9, 2003, 9:27 PM
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Yeah Ive done a heap of aiding on structures like buildings , bridges etc but urban spelunking ahh that brings me back i was doing that for years starting about 1980 sheesh I could take my friends anywhere they wanted to go via drainage system with in about a 40 block radius of my house plus I knew the way to other cool places like down to the river (about a 10 hr trip ) I later built a roller system so I could scoot along at about 10X as fast as foot/hand travel.
My first huge ascent for me was when i was very young about 12-13 when I climbed the huge tressel bridge in our city 380' I later did multi rope single rappels off it a couple years later, before the single rappel just after I climbed the bridge I climbed about 100' up and rapped off using my home made harness from some old seat belts and my own rappel device ( At that time I had not even seen a real device or knew how they worked ) sheesh no wonder my parents would freak out if the police brought me home for being up on the roof of a building or caught climbing antennas... fortunately when I turned 14 a shop a dive shop I used started bringing in spelunking gear and I was able to start buying real equipment and going out climbing on real rock ( an hour away) of course I still climbed buildings and structures for many years after as a hobby and now when Im doing a rigging job or the like I still sometimes have to do some free climbing /aid work to gain accsess to the work spot.
Bet my mom thought I would grow out of this and some how eons later i still have a passion for climbing and rigging, go figure.
cheers :)
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pico23
Jun 10, 2003, 5:53 AM
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In reply to: but urban spelunking ahh that brings me back i was doing that for years starting about 1980 sheesh I could take my friends anywhere they wanted to go via drainage system with in about a 40 block radius of my house plus I knew the way to other cool places like down to the river (about a 10 hr trip ) I later built a roller system so I could scoot along at about 10X as fast as foot/hand travel.
Hell yeah, thats good stuff. We did sort of a similar thing but some of the spaces were so tight that and changed levels that you couldn't use the cart which was just a craftsman undercar cart for auto repair. Nothing fancy but it worked alright as long as the levels didn't change or the water didn't get too high. 40 block radius is impressive. Not sure I really ever knew where I was going beyond a few blocks.
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pirate
Jun 10, 2003, 8:02 AM
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Its good to know Im not as strange or crazy as all my friends tried to tell me and that there are others out there with simular experiences.
Yeah i tried using a creeper too but it always fouled or didn't ride smooth, so i built a cart that was simular but the wheels were set out at a 45 degree angle and I used wheels from a dolly that were solid core yet pliable rubber. the frame was made out of something I found at the scrap yard that was just about perfect it even had 4 tabs on it that I mounted the wheels to but i had to bend them to the right angle and after the first ride on it they bent too far, so I corrected them and then had my dad weld up gussets on the tabs. Uhhhh yeah dad I know the wheels are at an angle ....yep Im sure I want them like that.........ohh yeah I think it will be more stable that way .........no I don't need it too turn....
It actually worked great after some tweaking to get the wheels to ride right. it certainly wasn't super fast but it sure made traveling easier I could make it to the 7-11 store in about 30-40 min. and it was about a 15 minute walk on the surface. yeah that was super fun arriving in the back alley of the 7-11 popping out going into the store with dirty clothes soaked and having the sound of garbage bags rustling underneath (we used them to stay sorta dry) people must of thought.......hell I don't know what they would have thought especially on a dry hot summer day and here we are soaked dirty stinking kids with flashlights...hell they probably knew exactly what we were doing yet not once did I even remotely have a run in with the anti fun personally...I mean police well at least not in regards to my under city travelling......other stuff though is, well another story. :wink:
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norcal_local
Jun 10, 2003, 12:24 PM
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In reply to: In reply to: some dude aid climbed the world trade centers a few years back. he used teh window washing grooves in the side of the building. he got like a $1.13 fine, one cent for every floor. Alain Robert, the insane French spiderman. And it was technically a free solo, 1500' crack climb (even though he didn't have to jam, the channels have an inside edge).
Actually, George Willig climbed the WTC first in 1977. He did use homemade climping devices that he used in the window waching tracks. He was charge $1.10 total, $.01 per floor, after public praised him. The original amount he was being charged was $250,000 criminal trespass fines and $750,000 civil suit. the full stoy on it is at http://commemoratewtc.com/history/facts/willig.php
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allan_thomson
Jul 20, 2003, 10:43 AM
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I've just thought of a good excuse for climbig buildings, that you use. You could just say that you were looking for escape routes in case the building goes on fire.
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dlintz
Jul 20, 2003, 2:53 PM
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No buildings but my first intro to gear was a 30' aid solo of an abandoned train bridge foundation. I bought 4 biners, 4 runners, and 4 nuts (guessed at the sizes I'd need). One vertical small fingers crack on a perfectly smooth wall took me 45 minutes. Tried it 2 other times before I lost my nerve. The 30+ year old concrete "changed" every time I placed a piece. Not the smartest thing I've ever done. :roll:
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retrock
Jul 20, 2003, 7:31 PM
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Repel Master Course, (United States Marine Corps) will give you the skills to climb just about any man made structure. There is not much covered on rock climbing but the equipment and techniques are much the same at the most primitive level; carbiners, super "8"'s, G.I. harness, rope rigging, and helo extraction and infiltration using static line. The Army has the Rangers go through much the same course.
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philbox
Moderator
Jul 21, 2003, 6:24 AM
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Hey Pirate, that reminds me of some kids recently who took to some stormwater drains around here. They used candles for light. Trouble is that they didn`t count on a gas leak and it is lucky that they were only badly singed. They told of this huge fireball growling down the pipe at them and they hightailed outta there. They tried to flag down some motorists but no one would stop because they all looked a fright. My brothers have all been up that particular system before using candles and other assorted naked flames.
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itsagoal
Jul 21, 2003, 8:28 AM
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if any of you guys are interested-www.buildering.net
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gthornberg
Jul 21, 2003, 1:50 PM
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All I can say is that the picture I keep seeing in this thread is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen! :shock:
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