[TowerTalk] Sad news N5IA SK in tower fall

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

The most difficult climb I ever had was getting an inexperienced climber 
down, who froze in place after looking down.
Thankfully he was only at 60 feet.
I had been doing tower and antenna maintenance for a repeater on a 200' 
tower at just under the 100' level (but on a several hundred ft hill, 
that put it about 600 feet above ground level down here.)  until I moved 
to the present location. I was in town when I received a call on our 
regional repeater.  The other repeater had a problem.  The frozen climber.

I had to go back home, get my climbing gear and then drive over 60 miles 
to the other site. Once there, get harnessed up and climb the 60'. This 
tower sat on a concrete pier that was about 6' tall IIRC.
Once I was up there, quite some time had elapsed since I was called.  I 
don't know how long he had been there before they called, but I had to 
pry his fingers loose as his muscles were now rigid.  It became a series 
of move the had, climb down, move a foot, then do the same on the other 
side. Thankfully the braces were close enough that I could do one side 
at a time. Once we were down to the pier, he could not climb down on a 
stepladder with out help.

I'll bet he had trouble moving the next day and used a lot of pain 
pills. I "think" one of the other hams drove him home.

It's been a long time, but IIRC he free climbed.  I don't remember any 
safety gear, but there may have been. That was over 30 years  ago, so I 
would have been in my 40s and a lot better shape than now.

73,

Roger (K8RI)


On 6/14/2016 Tuesday 12:07 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
> A ham I know (W6REC) works as an "auditor" for cell site
> owners (he works for all the big carriers in a
> free lance capability).  He has the authority to
> essentially act as a "bouncer" if he sees workers
> on site working in an unsafe manner.  According
> to him, the maximum height above ground where
> free climbing is allowed is "zero", and
> there has to be a rescue qualified backup
> climber on the ground at all times.  He unfortunately
> has to play policeman too frequently.
>
> I didn't know Milt well, but he seemed
> to illustrate why 160 is called the "gentlemen's
> band".  Certainly, his station was a "beacon"
> station in any contest.  Perhaps this tragedy
> will induce greater safety in connection with tower work.
>
> Rick N6RK
>
> On 6/14/2016 8:24 AM, Matthew Kaufman wrote:
>> Problem comes when you are climbing someone else's tower. After you 
>> fall to your death, you don't get to participate in the liability 
>> insurance fight that ensues.
>>
>> My understanding is that this wasn't his own tower, and the tower 
>> site owner should be very unhappy with his decision... If a 
>> commercial site, definitely a violation of their policies... Which is 
>> exactly how hams get kicked off of commercial tower sites, and new 
>> hams get turned down when they ask.
>>
>> Matthew Kaufman
>>
>>
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-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)


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