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Long story short, you wake up and it's a beautiful day. You have no plans so you check the weather, winds are nice, 7% chance of precipitation, and it's gorgeous with some nice puffy clouds outside. Winds are blowing nicely between the wires at a nice terminal tower you jump regularly, not the best day blaze in the world, but on a back road with only one house near by. You pack slider up no tail gate, no direct control and head for your spot. The home owners aren't home so you begin your jump You scurry up the first three hundred feet to avoid being seen by traffic and notice a cloud formation in the distance begin to darken, but nothing alarming. By 500' the clouds have nearly turned black. Nice tropical thunderstorm has just spontaneously formed in your nice warm region. It begins to rain as the clouds move closer and become more dense. Then you hear thunder and see lightning in the distance. Your at the 500' platform (bought an 8 ft overhang from tower) on a 2000' tower. It's begun to rain and lightning is on the way. Luckily you have saddle bags and are as safe as possible most of the time. You have a carry-on, break tape, pull up cord, floss, ect with you on all jumps. What do you do?

Just for the record, I had a 42" pc and freefell it, running exit, bought 3 second delay, worked out fine other than a little knee knocking.

why'd you bring a 42" PC to a 2000ft tower ???

42 works for everything!

Agreed, maybe not the absolute best option, but agreed.

Climb to the top. Your already wet.

I'm still waiting on someone to throw the "pull it out and do a Mckonkey" option out there!

climb up quickly another 200 feet and go!

+1

Remind me what the floss is for.

Ever take an FJC? Read Safety Articles?

Dental-floss
What use is dental floss on a BASE jump you might ask? Well, dental floss is light, relatively strong, and a single package can contain as much as 60 meters. Obviously you can’t climb down on it, but it has succesfully been used to carry a rope up to a jumper stuck on the wall.

If you get an offheading and you find yourself halfway up the face of a cliff, if you can lower the floss 60 meters down, your rescue party can attach a thicker rope, you can carry it up and you can then rappel down on the thicker rope.

It's highly unlikely this would happen, but why not take every precaution possible.

No, I taught myself back in 1992 to jump and now have 600 jumps, almost none from bridges.

BASE 460

Carry some break cord?

I do.



ps
consider testing to see if dental floss can be used as break cord...

 

 

 

 

i am now keeping 2 cable ascenders, prussik loops, and a shitton of hardware with 2 safety harnesses and a plethroa of webbing and a climbing rope in my trunk from now on, just because it couldnt hurt to have it there..................i am getting a first aid kit to keep there too.

and i have a roll of toilet paper in my trunk at all times, because you never know when you will have to take a shit

I'm not getting advice dude. I found myself in a strange situation, I made a decision, I shared it out of curiosity to see what other people would do. Nothing more. I love to jump, I try to do it as safe as possible and as prepared as possible every time. 3 major off headings isn't that bad in 250 jumps. I don't know everything and I don't claim too either, I only mentioned my numbers because I'm not a jumping wonder with 400 tater bridge jumps. I am just another jumper having a good time and sharing with friends. Thanks for your opinion, and I hope you are not right about me going in, which is why I try to be safe and prepared on every jump. I understand I might have made the wrong decision to jump, but I did and was merely curious to what others would do in a similar situation. Nothing more.

That damn poo-button gets pushed just before almost every jump! TP is on the top of my list for any jump.

Can you explain this further because I thought so too but I don't know anything really - just that subterminal slider up jumps next to wires make me nervous.

 

Sub terminal slider up jump are going to make your canopy a bit squirrely on opening potentially causing an off heading. Any off body position, off loading the risers, whatever is going to be exaggerated potentially promoting an off heading opening. Using a static line in this situation would not prevent the canopy from doing what it does after the line breaks, so a jump in this situation, I felt like separation was a bigger factor in the out come. I don't take 42's on a 2000 either, when I'm planning on jumping from that height, but in 95 degree weather climbing blows. I usually go from 1000' maybe a bit more, but either way the climb is shit, I get high enough and go.

 

Well would you call it terminal?


He already said he usually gets off early. (I bet he's heard that before)

And carrying dental floss is pretty strange in my opinion. But props for being prepared with all of your other climbing equipment. It will probably come in much more handy then dental floss.

Well the climbing gear I have always had, but when a little tree situation happened it hit me, even if I had the damn gear with me (which I didn't) how would we get a rope to him anyway. Searched the forums for a sec, found a reference to an article on here, read it, got the dental floss idea. Not a big deal to stick in a saddle bag, wing suit or tracking suit pocket...never notice it's there...till your 60 up and need a rope. I thought it was strange myself, but after a thought, kinda a decent precaution to take.

man, i love your attention to detail! awesome!

you have the right BASE spirit!!!

Old Florida saying about the weather:
If you don't like it just wait 20 minutes, it will change.


Depends... on the jumper's size, physical fitness, and skill.
I have been in similar situations a few times on different
antennas and each time I made different decisions.


First Time:

LeRoy and I were on a guyed antenna, I had very few jumps
at the time, we got to the base of the stick and I pointed at
the clouds maybe 20 miles away. He said he checked this
and they were moving away from us. By the time we were
at 300' the clouds were on us, black, and angry.

He decided to do a Go & Throw from the steel, got a 180.,
After watching and videoing his jump I decided to climb
down, and like I said I was pretty new and scared so I was
slow and did in fact get a small but painful electrical shock.


Second time was September 23rd last year and three of us
were doing a high jump off of a huge antenna for my
birthday... however we spent too much time finding a good
place to hide my truck and due to dinner plans with my wife
and mom we ran out of time while climbing. So we stopped
at 660' on a huge platform and the 3 of us had a talk.

The most conservative and least experienced guy climbed
down, the youngest, skinniest, fastest climber quickly ran
up another 300 feet, and I just jumped from there taking
around 4 solid seconds. My jump was perfect and fun but
now I know how dicey that decision was.


On my local 315' freestander, Wanda, I have had to deal
with quick weather changes a few times. It takes longer
to drive there than climb it... in 12 minutes I can be on
top, PC in hand, ready to go so there unless there is
lightning we just move quick.


The dental floss was new to me but makes sense.

Have fun, be careful, stay safe!

Peace,
~Tom

seriously whats the deal, everytime I get ready to jump I feel the need to take a dump!

It's cause BASE scares the shit out of us!

Green Machine, Leroy was a great guy, huge heart, but not quite exactly known for his excellent decision making skills, God rest his soul. The storm was getting very close very quick, I was also worried about the lightning and jumped vs. climbing down the wet tower in a light rain that was about to get very bad. I am glad it worked out for the best in this troubled situation.

I think a few people in that area might have a problem with this...just saying, no harm intended.

I think a few people in that area might have a problem with this video.

Of course I did not post it, LeRoy did 2+ years ago.

Edited to add: The video will be deleted as requested.

Reading this thread made me wonder what tower workers do when caught high on a tower with a storm rolling in fast. Obviously they would prob scurry down, but I wonder if they have a method to protect themselves if they can't beat the storm. Would wearing insulated gloves, clothing, and boots make a difference if the tower was struck?

For the record, I am part of the ten percent who would "Scurry down the 500' of wet tower."

Just curious what everyone's opinion is on getting off a tower low when packed slider up? I have gotten off my local A from 675 a bunch of times slider up with a 42, which according to some of you guys is black death.

How low will ya go?

Props on being prepared and bringing all that gear. I carry all that shit in my car too, including a saw. It has come in quite handy.

I am interested in the 'shock". This has been a current point of topic recently. Physics says, on an inside climb, you are safe because of the Faraday Cage. however, no one is willing to test it out. I want to hear what you think, Green Machine.

500 ft slider up? Hell yea! I would do it in a heart beat and think it is a GOOD decision. How many have done it at the Perine? If I'm taking 3 or more you bet your ass it will be up. I have done many 3 and 4 sec up jumps with no issues. So you have a 180, you should be plenty far enough away to turn it around.
I have done a 1 sec up jump with a 36. it pulled that sucka right out without a noticeable delay. I will agree that it is not an 'ideal' situation,but it beats the hell out of getting BBQ'd.

I have also seen slider up roll overs off a 370' cliff with no issues. Not recommending this but it is more prof that slider up is NOT black death.

There was a small, visible arc of electricity that
bridged from the ladder to my right hand as I
was reaching to grab the next rung.

It stung, but not too bad, perhaps because I was
grounded by standing on the ladder, I was wearing
combat boots with rubber soles, honestly I do not
know, I can wire car stereos or simple stuff in my
house but I am definitely NOT a "Spark Chaser".


As for tower workers, I recently took a newbie out
to Wanda for his first antenna and static line jump.

This guy spent a summer working on towers and
told me some stories about being stuck up there
during quick storms and high winds.

the only thing "safe" in BASE jumping tends to be getting chicken BASE. whenever someone jumps, they are playing the odds.

careful planning can stack the deck in a jumper's favor and increase the odds of success.

changing plans at the last minute decreases the odds.

having succeeded doesn't necessarily mean it is a good idea. it just means you won that round. (unprotected sex does not always lead to pregnancy either, or an STD... but it certainly increases the chances!)

arguing that something can be done simply because it worked before, really isn't the best way to evaluate the risks. (I am happy that you have met with success.)

I agree with you. Its all dangerous. However, in my mind, if it has been done before with success, makes me more apt to try it as apposed to being done before with limited, or no success.

If I was in his situation, (which I have been) I would have done the same thing and considered it a good alternative. Except I would have taken 4. Canopy time is just wasted free fall!

I don't think the "height" matters for the decision of slider up vs slider down. Its all about the delay.

Story time.......
My friend and fellow static line BASE jumper has repeatedly done a solid 1 second delay, slider up from 1000 feet. We keep telling him, if you keep up, you are gonna get a 180. On his most recent one, he got it! In no wind, he turned it around and landed fine. If he took a longer delay would of it been on heading? Not necessarily, but who knows? If he were slider down, I think he would have been less likely to have it. But, again, who knows? His canopy would have at least been open slightly faster giving him more time to deal with it. My guidelines are 3 or more, slider up. And at my age, no more than 2 slider down. It doesn't mater how far away the ground is.

It sounds like you were getting an induced charge. If you ad one bare hand on the steel at all times this woun make sense but here it goes......

Because you have rubber soles, and are taking your hands off the steel, you are NOT grounded. In an EMF, you develop a charge like rubbing your socks on the carpet. The tower is grounded. so, when you go to grab the steel, your built up energy is enough to arc to the ground (the tower in this case).

Thunder storms produce large electromagnetic fields. That is why some people say could feel the lightning moments before they got hit.
Damn, I wanna get hit by lightning just once without recourse just to feel it!

Anyone have any thoughts on how safe it is to be on the inside of a tower when it gets hit by lightning?

Someone reported being on a tower once when it was struck...I wanna say it was 460?

Well with the number of people here who would rather downclimb 500 feet of wet lightening rod, I imagine we will have a personal account soon!

yes, I was on a tower when a large bolt of lightning encompassed the tower. All I saw a large blue flash with no sound followed by a lightning streamer about 5 feet off the tower next to me. I didn't feel anything. I jumped off immediately to get out of the situation.

The whole point of a lightning rod is for it to be struck and for it to conduct the current to the earth, rather than the structure it's attached to. Unless you think you're more conductive than a metal tower, you'll probably be ok.

 

This is awesome! These are the same conclusions we came up with. According to 460's experience, and and other physics, the general consensus seems to be "You will probably be fine but no one wants to test that theory."

 

I think I was lucky. It started raining pretty hard about 10 seconds after I landed. I was soaking wet, the outcome may have been different.

Notice one feature on towers. Sometimes you'll see a metal pipe covered in nails hanging on the outside of the tower. Or you might see some bizarre looking barbed wire hanging on the outside of the tower. Those are lightning deflectors. This guides the lightning down the exterior of the tower to prevent damage to equipment or to people. It might be useful to research tower workers and lightning.

Lightning poses its own risk, especially in Florida. Raphael Nadal was on a tower last month that was hit twice within an hour.
from http://www.heraldtribune.com/...210477?p=3&tc=pg


"First the antennas start buzzing real loud," Nadal said. "Then the hair on your arms stands up straight."

If there is time, he jumps to smaller steel beams less likely to attract a hit. Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes, he says, "Then you just hold on tight for the boom. It's the loudest thing you ever will hear."

Unlike other inherently dangerous jobs (miner, firefighter, soldier), working on a cell phone tower is a truly modern profession.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZQ4gf3DMJA
Cool video about guys working on 2000 foot tower, in the end one of them talks about what happens when they get surprised by a storm, he seems to not really make a big deal out of it

Ive actually been in this situation before when a lightning storm started rolling in when i was 500' up a 1400' antenna. I weighed my options at that point. The things I had going wrong were: first jump on that object, solo, first terminal jump, winds going down the wire, and the lightning.

It was pretty much no contest to climb down. Wouldve jumped but I was slider up with a 36" pc

pusies big!