Last Saturday, we did a trial run to see if we could get decent tower climbing footage. There are many adjustments that could have been made and will be made in the future. For one thing, that shoulder cam is not positioned right. I may have to mount it on a helmet or more in the front at a different angle. I’d like to make it removable so that it can be maneuvered, once at the top of the tower, for panoramic video.
And then there was the issue of a missing master key as well as the barbed wire fence, which didn’t stop my partner, yet left me at a distance to film. Really, that was an exception and hasn’t happened to us before this, especially since we always get permission.
This video is long and not what I wanted to make, yet it gives me a point from which to grow, practice, and learn.
[Edited to add: We shot this footage, and contributed other footage, to Frontline's "Cell Tower Deaths" story by ProPublica, which was originally supposed to air February 21, 2012. It has since been replaced by a rerun, not a time-sensitive news piece.]
Gulp. Maybe I could climb up, but I know for a fact I would freeze going down.
Holy moley. I could hardly watch this let alone do it. Crazy amazing!
Is he really climbing that fast? Yikes!
The view from the top is spectacular, but there is no way I could make that climb.