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Youre about halfway up the thing, about to dayblaze when you see a workers truck driving up. You....

Hmmm, your poll makes me think of a question of something i have thought about doing before.

Has anyone ever been in trouble for impersonating a construction/tower worker?

I know there are jumpers that do it, i just wonder if anyone has been caught?

We climbed to the top, then sat there waiting for the workers to leave. When they hadn't left after about 90 minutes of waiting, we jumped over their heads and ran for the car. Didn't even stash the gear until three or four freeway exits later.

 

 

  I would myself, jump as quickly as I safely could. Workers have no authority over anyone, but the longer you wait the better the chance of someone showing up who does.
Sure, you might heat up the A for a little while, but LEO's have a lot on their plate, and get boared really quick when watching nothing.

Where's the option for "turn yourself in for intentionally heating up a nice object" ??

I'm thinking most tower workers really don't care, unless you break something!

I was doing a bit of day recon work at a tower. workers were installing a new antenna. I started talking to the fella on the ground. he invited me into the compound. I asked if I could catch the elevator to the crow's nest to enjoy the view. he then proceeded to tell me how to climb it at night, the radiation hazards, etc.

I get the feeling tower crews are very blue collar and a bit whacked in the head (to most people). they probably will admire someone who also enjoys the heights. and it takes energy to narc on someone.

a lot of tower guys are ex-convicts. the work is very hard and dangerous. ex-convicts are not fond of cops. the tower guys i knew were pretty different than the average guy and they were also the strongest fuggers i've ever met.

Good information to know! Thanks for passing this on!

dayblazing...

2 of my buddies are on the ground
and a yahoo in a mini-van stopped
to ask them something...

I waited till he drove off then I jumped

Scary! Ill be sure to add rape to the list of things I need to be careful of while jumping a big A.

Haha I never really noticed the ex-con part, I thought it was just the people I worked with, most of which had a criminal record and a short fuse, and none of whom I'd dare to get in a fight with. They were all really cool people though, and we had a lot of fun.

Also, what somebody said earlier... there are so many people who work on most towers that they wouldnt care if they saw somebody up there. In fact, 90% of the towers I've worked on only once and never saw them again. I once actually considered purchasing a length of ice bridge and hardware to build a jumping platform on an A about 5 minutes from my house (3-legged self-support with no clean exit), and just disguise it as an access bridge under the array of antennas at the top. If any tower workers ever saw it, they'd never know it wasn't supposed to be there, and if they did, they'd probably think it was quite convenient and be thankful...

do you think this same theory of "they probably wouldn't know or care" applies to the standard 350' AT configuration freestander (platforms and horns on top)? what you're saying makes sense for taller A's out in the middle of nowhere, but seems to me some of the smaller freestanders might be maintained or checked on by someone local, and our presence might be cause for alarm... also, how would you explain being there at night? with a parachute on?

dude you're reading way too much into this.

that's why i hate these kinds of posts, they only breed bad ideas and ethics.

sure, if someone sees you, they probably won't care. the whole point is to not be seen. do you guys remember that whole leave no trace thing?

bottom line, don't be somewhere you will get caught or seen, unless you have permission or you're positive you can talk your way out of it.

i was speaking hypothetically, i have no interest in meeting non-jumpers on a tower. i'm all for the leave no traces theory. however, in the event that shit happens, and people show up, it is nice to have some information and an anticipated plan of action.