Heights Are Now History
by Paul McGoldrick
The first time I climbed a major antenna structure I was 19 and very active. The rigger who took me up about 600 feet carefully monitored my use of the safety equipment -- although he never used such things himself as he felt they hindered his work -- and I had, subsequently, to make climbs about once a month for a few years. The highest I ever climbed was about 1400 feet and I learned, like many climbers, how to move like a monkey. But the secret of effective climbing is to do it at the pace that comes naturally to you. One or two climbers on the same structure works, more is a crowd.
No, I have never been into crowds while climbing and recent events rather reinforced that attitude.
The actual heights that I have allowed myself to climb have greatly reduced over the years. The last time that I shinnied up a vertical stick was nearly 10 years ago in Turkey and I had to do that 30 feet in dress shoes to check on a visual transmission path; my staff appeared unamused at such antics when I returned to California!
Now even 20 feet of ladder is daunting and I am more than happy to finish getting the Christmas lights up (on a calm day) without incident. That the dangers of working on an extended aluminum ladder are probably considerably higher than working on a commercially built tower designed for climbing is almost incidental. It is not the height that is the fearful thing to my brain, I can still look down from just about any height and not feel in any way unwell. A moving structure gets the adrenaline rushing, but there is a constant fear of being out of control. It's like flying: When you have the yoke in your hand it doesn't seem to make any difference how fast or gusting the wind is, or how much your airplane is bouncing around, you know that you are in command of what happens. As a passenger in the back, in contrast, all your brain can think about is what could possibly go wrong at the front.
So, in Rome a couple of weeks ago, on the warmest day that the city has had this year, I was in a mix. I have never been to Rome and not climbed to the top of the cupola of St. Peter's basilica. The view is wonderful and something that any visitor to Rome needs to do at least once. But I have never done this on a busy tourist day, and I have always climbed the whole way ignoring the elevators to the first level that were installed a couple of decades ago. I had my daughter with me and she was extremely keen to go to the top. But when we had climbed to the inner gallery overlooking the sanctuary of the basilica I realized that I could not go all the way up.
The final climb is a one way system where the steps get narrower and narrower and the angle of the roof closes down more and more on you. That is fine, and there is no way that you can fall to the side. But having endured the really fast climbers on the first stage I had the realization that I could not allow myself to be paced with the crowds who seemed to want to rush the final climb - or, even worse, the climb down with people pressuring behind especially when climbing down facing forward is so unnatural.
Things don't change: Climbing in crowds is still not my bag. But, at
least, my daughter has a reason to go back to Rome when she is older so
she can complete the climb dad could not face.