An Exclusive Club

There’s two kinds of people. EITHER: You couldn’t pay me enough to climb that tower. OR I wanna climb that tower whether you pay me or not.

I met one of these guys on holiday a few years ago and asked him how often people fall off these towers. " Once", he replied.

I climbed the sticks for 15 years. Once you're on the antenna you're 500+ feet higher than the Twin Towers. Puts it into perspective for many just how high you get. Anyway, my monkey tail slipped from an antenna peg (they have very little hook on them) and luckily fell perfectly so that it landed on the next one down. Scariest moment of my life. That was my last climb.

I’m a firefighter and am not the biggest fan of heights, these guys, crane operators and iron workers are absolutely insane and I give them all the respect In The world. I can honestly say I don’t think I could get up and do this everyday

I'm a 73 year old Retired High Steel Ironworker ( Connector ), when I got a little tired of Hanging Iron , I would subcontract Towers from various companies with my brother and a couple of our good friends . I've also built and worked for some of the largest Tower Companies in the USA . I've built in Swamps , Deserts , Mountains , Islands . In Louisiana , one of our Elevated Anchors was in the water , and we were in the midst of Alligators and Cottonmouths. That was fun . I was on another job when my brother was taking down an old Tower from on top of a building . It was in a large town , they had to raise the equipment from the alley way . They refused to continue because of all the Electric poles in the alley . The Electric Co was called and they said everything would be safe . My brother's knee was touching the flashing on top the brick and the electricity arched a ways and killed him as they pulled up the first Tower Section . In 1982 , I was tearing down a 150' Rhone 25 Tower . It is a very small Tower ( only one man needed on the Tower ) . When we got down to 60 ' , the Guy line anchor snapped and it fell with me on it . Those towers are usually set in at least 3 to 4 feet of concrete , but this one had a Bolt to prevent it from moving . I was able to unhook myself from the Tower and " rode " it down as the Bolt was bending ( before it broke ) . I pushed myself away ( so the Tower wouldn't fall on me ) and landed on my Left foot heel and Right foot toes . It cracked my left foot in several places , but the real damage was landing on my right foot toes . The Doctors had to rebuild that foot and they told my wife that I might not walk again ! I was in a cast for 6 weeks and the next week , I was back on Towers again . I was paid $1.50 a foot to change lights , and back in the 80's , when I sometimes worked by the hour , I made from about $14.00 to $20.00 an hour . We would also get daily per diem , which would be at least $100.00 a day . I love being in the air , butyou could not pay me enough money to work underground or maybe on a ship far out on the ocean !! We all have our limits ! Ha , Ha! Hat's off to all you folks ! If any of my old Ironworker-Towerhand buddies see this , hit me up . I'm still the Original Panama Redd . Peace !

I did a bit of tower climbing when I was considerably younger. The scariest thing for me was watching a cloud pass over the tower when you are looking up from half way up. You would swear the tower was tipping. You cannot always trust your senses.

As a young police officer I always felt very safe working in the darkness on graveyard, even in the most dangerous neighborhoods. Areas where my friends and coworkers were attacked, shot, even fatally injured, it was the darkness that had a type of blanketing level of comfort enveloping my whole person. Yet, as I watched these guys talk about the work they love I'm thinking there isn't enough money in the entire world to create that same sensation to get me to the top of one of those crazy tall TV antennas!

My first tower climb was the KCAU TV tower in Sioux City, Iowa in June, 1986. At 11:30 pm, after the station went off the air, we left the diner after having coffee and pie. We rode the elevator up to about the 1,700' level, then climbed up the ladder another 180'+ feet to the actual antenna, then climbed the bat wings to the top, 2,001' to change the light bulb. There were 4 of us, only me an Al McGraw went to to the top. The KCAU tower was built from 1965 to 1967 and is 609.9 meters (2,001') high. It is tied for the tallest structure in Iowa and is one of the tallest structures in the world. Yee haw... Fun night.

That was awesome to watch, I didn't know they worked at night

They dont all look dead inside because of the job. Thats just the face you get from living in sioux falls.

I met a guy once who asked me if I needed a summer job. I said I did and he asked me how I felt about heights, working high up. I said I didn't mind it and the next day I was painting high-tension towers all over northeast Ohio. Me and another guy could usually paint a 300-ft. tower a day wearing paint mitts. No safety lines because it slowed us down too much. We made good money, a dollar a foot so $150/day each. That was real good money in 1969. The only other guys that worked with us were Apache Native Americans because they weren't afraid of heights. You could see the curvature of the Earth at that height. You could see a long way. That was quite a summer job.

Man that girl working at the desk really added a lot, thank god they put her on for that brilliant insight

Been a member of the club since 1980....the coolest climb I had was on a 500 ft tower in the mountains of Puerto Rico. Low clouds moved in so I had the experience of "Tower heaven" or as I call it, my :jack n the bean stalk" experience. Climbing through the clouds into the sun is a beautiful experience. THANKS FOR ALL OF THE MEMORIES

My hats off to all the folks that do this job that most can’t or won’t. Personally my height tolerance is about 20’. Please stay safe up there. 👍

Congratulations for all the tower climbers. Be safe always.

You prairie folk speak so solemnly, I was half expecting one of those stories to end in tragedy.

I'm a mountain climber and there's some stupid comfort in being high up on a mountain, but dont ask me why climbing one of these towers scares me. It just does.

Yeah, I froze climbing up the ladder to the second floor window once. Mom had to come rescue me. I was 42. In all fairness it was windy. Mom almost spit her teeth out she was laughing so hard.

Hats off to you guys for doing such a unique job.

I think with all the technology we have today, they can come up with some kind of thin emergency parachute, if they was ever to plummet! To give them some chance to live. My hands get super sweaty just watching things like this. 😳 God Bless Them 🙏