How much would you charge for doing Fred's job?

[joe-90]

I don't know that I could do it for any money. The fear of losing your nerve and freezing way up there would be massive.

Could you do it? Be honest now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg&feature=related

 

[Nige F]

They should be called Steeple Freds in his honour ( not steeple Jacks)

 

[Johnmelad502]

I MIGHT have been able to do it when I was a lot younger, but with age my fear of heights has grown.

Where was his fall arrester?

 

[Trazor]

Where was his fall arrester?

I'm sure I saw the ground, some where in that video..........

 

[Steve]

Where was that filmed?

 

[joe-90]

Dunno, probably up North somewhere.

 

[joe-90]

I MIGHT have been able to do it when I was a lot younger, but with age my fear of heights has grown.

Where was his fall arrester?

I reckon I could do it wearing one - but I mean do it the way that Fred did it.

 

[Steve]

Dunno, probably up North somewhere.

Being further south than me, you probably think "up north" is only a few square miles. There are probably hundreds of towers/chimneys like this one "up noorth".

 

[holmslaw]

"Hey you could ride a bike round here"

 

[ColJack]

his fall arrester was on his belt.. lookes like a union flag.. rolled up parachute...

we used to climb out on tree branches as kids, ok so it wasn't as high as that...

what's wrong with a helicopter to drop you off at the top? showoff...

I was working at a nightclub in wolverhampton and there was an incinerator next door that had a big chimney.
they were going up it to check / fix the navigation lights at the top and were setting the ladders up..
about 6 lengths from the top, the guy fixing them dropped it ( or it came loose of whatever it was tied to..) and it came clattering down...
it was just a twisted mess of aluminium after it hit the ground.. and a rather sizeable dent in the tarmac of the carpark it landed on..

 

[dave.m]

Where was that filmed?

Steve,
It is the India Mill chimney in Darwen near Blackburn.

From:
Fred Dibnah's Buildings of Britain...

An excellent book by David Hall.

dave

 

[Thermo]

heights have never worried me. my dad was a builder and when we were young we reguarly used to go up ladders on to the roofs of 4-5 storey victorian houses. no scaffolding or safety gear. The worse bit was they used to use wooden ladders lashed together to reach the height. by god did they wobble in the middle!

if the climbing looks hard, think about lashing them ladders up at the top!

 

[Norcon]

Guess this guy won't be charging anything!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q46KhHxIFCc

 

[dave1953]

By God you have to take your hat off to Fred but who put the ladders up prior to the climb, what a life that man lived!

 

[joe-90]

By God you have to take your hat off to Fred but who put the ladders up prior to the climb, what a life that man lived!

Fred puts his own ladders up using a bosun's chair.