AHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHA!!!

That's the sound of my screaming punctuated with nervous laughter as I watched the below video of a tower technician working on a transmission tower 1,768 feet in the air after partially free-climbing it sans safety line, which I strongly recommend you do not watch if you have a fear of heights or propensity for vertigo. But if you, like me, weirdly enjoy the feeling of your stomach being eaten by fluttering bats that's generally only evoked by roller-coasters and bungee-jumping, then WATCH AWAY!

In either case, let us all give a round of horrified applause to the technicians who keep our visual teletypes and e-newseys transmissioning smoothly.


The video begins with a voiceover explaining: "Getting to work can be a chore—especially if your workplace is 1,700 feet straight up. That's the commute for people that work on transmission lines and antennae in the world of broadcasting. This video shows what it's like to climb to the top of a 1,768-foot tower just to begin your workday." From there, footage from the climber's view, via a camera atop his headgear, as he completes his ascent.

[Via Gabe.]