I've heard about some interest in my current job location. I thought I would put it all out there so you would have an idea on what your getting into if you have an interest in chasing it.

First off, the height issue. It's high. As a friend put it, it's not the heights its the widths. I would transition regularly with both feet, excuse me, toes on a 6" long piece of 2" angle that was u-bolted to the leg of the tower. Then have to hop and hold with my arms in order to get my feet into position where I could stretch(literally) my leg some 4-5 feet around a bundle of wires up the side of the tower to my next foot hold. Once there you could follow with your trailing leg, tie your safety on the right side and retrieve your safety from the left. You can either block the fact that your way up in the air out of your head(or try to) or just grow used to it as I did. In the end it was nothing but a thing and would look down and wave at the guys on the ground from time to time. Must be a mental thing. You will climb up, down all around the exterior of the tower, standing on diagonal braces, holding on with one hand while connecting your positioning lanyard(whichever one works in that location). You will stand on all thread bolts sticking out as it is the only foot hold you have in that area. At times you climb past areas in order to get inside of the tower 10, 20 feet below you. If you work for a crew like I did then you'll sadly be leaving your cool little pipeline grill on the bed of the truck unused, all day, everyday. Your lunch will be whatever you can pack up the tower as climbing down and back up is an option but not really one I've seen used. You will climb around antenna supports, climb on and even walk on antenna supports. Laughed one day as I stood out looking over the mountains and was standing on the antenna support bracket. Kinda felt like Jack in the Titanic movie....only a bit higher.

Fitness, yep, you better be fit. I don't mean, "I played football 10 years ago in high school" and have been doing 12 oz curls since. If you don't have a routine where you actually work out currently, you might want to consider staying on the ground. All the guys with the goodyear, spare tire, medical issues, you better stay landlocked and save my tower climbing buddies the effort of a tower rescue. Don't want them risking their lives to save somebody who thought they were the little train that could and "thought they could". You will drag lead around the tower, grinder off your hip at times, tools required to do your job. You'll move lead up and down the tower while climbing all at heights that would make most puke. You will work your wrists, legs, arms and as one of the tower guys said, your buttocks. If you want some of those "buns of steel" this would do it, if it don't kill ya first. Now, hanging in the spyder basket welding, I'm sure anybody could do it. It's a pain in it's own right. Dragging leads up the side of the tower, things get tangled like a bowl of spaghetti, rope safety off your back, swinging the basket from side to side on the leg and still working at heights. If your not in the basket and you need to get up to the higher elevations you will be climbing the rickety ladder and you WILL get a workout going up. You will hang from the tower with one hand fumbling with your positioning lanyard more times than you can imaging. You WILL hang(literally) by the seat of your pants in the harness for many, many hours. So many that your bum might go to sleep, no joke.

Climbing experience. I'd hope you have some of some kind. I have climbed all my life, huge trees as a kid, never needed a tree stand as I would find one nature supplied. I've rappelled in the military and have been to indoor rock climbing joints since the late 90's. If your up there fumbling around wondering what to do next then it's your funeral, just don't hit the ground crew on your way down.

I will admit, 160 feet in the basket and I was nervous but never in my life have I given up on anything I set out to do. At 250 feet out of the basket and I was not nervous at all. Day 4 of spider monkey training and it's a cake walk for me. Guess I just hated the spyder basket! Told the project manager I felt better out of the basket than in, he thought that was a bit odd.

Gear, well, you get into this and your in for about $1500 worth of safety gear just to get going. Between arc flash lanyards, safety's, harness, "beaners", and if your lucky the crew you hook up with will supply you with rope/cable grabs cause those are a fortune themselves. Unless you would rather use your standard harness and lanyards but again, when you plunge towards terra firma give the ground crew a "Headache" on your way down so you don't take them out with you.

I suppose it takes a certain personality to do it. If you can hang from a one inch wide strap, literally dangling from a piece of angle iron, dancing to the music playing on your headset(yes, dancing.....and singing) while welding at heights of over 200 feet or more then you might be a good tower welder. If you can be up there while the tower is wobbling in the wind and your being blown around, then you might be a good tower welder. You will have odd side effects at times. Standing on the ground and get the wobbles, guy I worked with said it was almost like PTSD (he was prior Army with tours in the sandbox). It's not a "man" thing, are you man enough. If you have something to prove or a tough guy complex then maybe you should save the guys a rescue or a death. If you cannot get relaxed up there and are constantly thinking about your current position above the earth? Again, save them the time of a rescue and walk away. 

This IS the most dangerous job in the world at this very moment. Don't believe me, look it up. If you get out there and find out you can't, have them call me, I'm game!! I won't hold it against you, maybe a little ribbin' but all in fun! Whatever you do, safety, safety.

Shawn
Officially a Tower Dawg Welder!