Climbing to the Top of a 1,786-ft Tower
Videos for Engineers

At 1,730 ft (527 m) to the tip of the highest antenna, the Sears tower is the tallest building in the U.S. If the navigation warning light burns out there, you take the elevator up to about 1,500 ft., then climb the remaining couple hundred feet up the tower and replace the bulb - piece of cake, right? It's usually not that easy. The two guys in this video filmed their climb to the very top of this free-standing, 1,786-foot tower in order to replace its bulb. They latch in safety hooks during rest stop, but climb freely in-between; stops become more frequent near the top. You have to be in pretty good physical condition to do this work - which in this case is akin to crawling uphill on your hands and knees for ½ km. According to the narration, the visible horizon is 55 miles away at the top.

d = sqrt (h² + 2rh)

r = radius of earth (mean) = 20,903,520 feet

h = height of tower = 1,786 feet

d = 273,259 feet = 51.8 miles (83.3 km)