3 HN users recommended this video2 months2015–2025score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN shares it as a dizzying example of Dibnah's fearless chimney work, in threads about heights and climbing.
Footage of British steeplejack Fred Dibnah climbing a chimney overhang at over fifty years old, without a harness. It is a short clip from his steeplejack work.
“the overhang climb in this is enough to make you feel dizzy” (HN, 2015)
As an American, I had to Google Fred Dibnah since I had never heard of him. The quick-and-dirty: [link] Extra bonus video: here he is at age 50 scaling a chimney... [this video] . Made my palms a bit sweaty just watching it. Amazing that he didn't even use a harness.
Fred Dibnah scaling a chimney overhang at 50 without harness.
If anyone is wondering how he got the ladders up the side of the chimney in the first place: [link] I rediscovered Fred on YouTube a couple of years ago, and spent far too much time watching pretty much everything I could find. As the title suggests, watching the overhang climb in this is enough to make you feel dizzy: [this video]
I free climbed radio towers on mesa's in the Pilbara as part of work experience in high school .. bit before health and safety was a thing. The steeplejack work of Fred Dibnah is quite a thing to watch. [this video] [link]
Those are good points - and match what I've seen with arborists who climb trees, prune, and do full removals for a living - chunking trees down from the top, oftentimes while they're in them. A lot of safety procedures and best practices diverge wildly from those in other industries. I get the impression it's probably the same way with chimneys in the UK, given that industry's long history. [1] In arboriculture, the following weird things are acceptable(-ish, depending on the country): - The climber is often supported by a single non-redundant rope, unlike rope access in other fields where two ropes are required. - "Riding the ball", or using a crane to hoist a human load, is done in exceptional circumstances. - Some critical PPE gear is often hand-made, it's very common for climbers to splice their own ropes. - Even the most die-hard chainsaw-safety advocates will grudgingly acknowledge that sometimes situations call for one-handed use. Some of these industry practices are in direct-conflict with more broad OSHA and/or EN safety standards. It isn't that the industry disregards safety - most climbers and crews I know are very safety conscious. Rather, the situations are different enough that the risk-mitigation calculus arrives at different answers. Where a ladder climber may be not-always attached to the ladder, in the tree-care industry, that's utterly unacceptable. [1] eg, one of the many Fred Dibnah videos on YouTube [this video]
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