On top of the world!

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Grants are hard to come by for international ecological research for non-students such as myself, so in the meantime . . . I'm doing construction to help fund my studies. Here's a little story about today's adventures on the jobsite:

I told my foreman the other day that I wanted to go up in our crane, and to my surprise he arranged it to happen. We were supposed to put up Christmas lights, which would have been pretty cool . . . it would have been nice to know that I was partly responsible for the Christmas lights that thousands of people see daily as the drive to and from work on I-5. Unfortunately, we couldn't find an adequate outlet. Oh, well - that's really besides the point, which is that I got to climb 10 or so stories to the top of a crane. I was pretty stoked, until I climbed to the second platform (of at least ten), and thought (as I looked down, then up), "Holy shit, what the hell have I gotten myself into?" Let's just say this: the crane looks way different from the ground than the ground does from the crane. So, after just two flights up ladders, my heartrate hit about 200bpm and I thought I had made a terribly embarrassing mistake by asking to do this. I knew I had to make the decision of either being absolutely miserable or manning up and enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime experience of being at the top of tower crane (ie. make it awesomely terrifying or terrifyingly awesome). I chose the latter, and continued putting hand over hand up to the top (sans harness, mind you). After a couple more ladders, I started getting more confident, and by the top I felt pretty good. I mean, I wasn't prancing around on the railings, but I also wasn't considering the fetal position anymore. Despite the rocking, the torquing (yes, torquing . . . you can't tell from the ground, but those cranes actually twist), and despite the revolving, I was comfortable walking down the catwalk, which is only about 2 feet wide and grated so it kind of looks like your standing on air when you look at your feet, to the rear of the crane. Definitely an awesome view and well worth it! I'm glad I had the opportunity and glad I made the climb. Pretty awesome piece of machinery, too. Nice early birthday present!

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Photos

Walsh Construction Tower Crane, Thornton Place, Northgate Mall
The tower crane I climbed . . . via ladders, which started on the floor below the first concrete deck.

Ty on a Crane
Wish I could say "look, Ma! No hands!" But there were very few steps where I didn't have a death grip on something.