Stairway to Heaven

This was shot from a camera mounted on the (hard) hat of a technician. There's this team of people who do repair work on very tall, antenna towers. The repairmen are climbing up essentially with nothing to protect them from lightning, slippery steps, attacks of dizziness, nasty birds, etc. In short, if they slip, that's it. And it's a long way down. But they're quite casual about the whole thing.

Notice that the main part of their work begins after this clip ends. The climb is the getting-to-work part.

EDIT JULY 2011: A lot of viewers recommend coming down by using a PARACHUTE. Please know that this would be very dangerous! First of all, carrying the parachute with you all the way up, in addition to the tool bag, seriously hampers your movements and it weighs you down. Then, you have to jump very far from the tower and its cables and protrusions - otherwise you risk the parachute getting ripped or not opening at all. (Parachutes open rather widely!)

EDIT SEPTEMBER 2011: And, yes, they're wearing HARD HATS because they want to protect their heads when they are climbing up. Even a small hit on your (bare) head may bring dizziness and make you lose your balance.

EDIT DECEMBER 2012: The CONSTRUCTION of these towers takes place almost entirely on the ground. Then the contraption is lifted up and secured.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Romik Chopra]

What i don't understand is, how can they climb with their balls weighing them down.

[tpaladino]

It's good that they're wearing helmets. You know, for safety.

[CastratedWeasel]

I've seen some fucked up videos in my life, but this one made me feel the worst. Balls of FUCKING STEEL

[minimusmax]

now I', not saying this guys dont have severely heavy testicles, but the video makes them look a lot higher than they actually are.  I fly planes and that 1700ft looks like 5,000 in my plane.

[Camille Banez]

Damn give these dudes some parachutes or a Zipline or something.

[Platzhallter]

say that to the second one if the first one shit some bricks!

[Duckreviewsanime]

NONONONO

[yungbergluvr]

FUCK 5:29 I s**t myself!

[vajayjayfrendly]

"There's no quick way to the bottom."

I mean, there is one way...

[Garjahn]

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

Nope.

[masdav94]

Fuck that job. No. Fuck.No.