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| Heights Today
by doublejointed at 9/30/2009 4:40:27 PM
The following is a story about my climbing up a thirty-foot ladder during a fire exercise today. That's it. Pretty boring, but I'm excited that I did it.
Today at the academy we were gonna be doing knots. Puttin' knots on stuff, hoistin' the stuff up, that sort of thing. All day, baby! Oh also there's one station you'll rotate to that deals with ladders and roof ladders. O RLY?
So it turns out today we also climbed up a 30-ft ladder onto a roof. The first guy who did so had to carry up the small roof ladder and put it in place, and also step onto and climb the roof ladder all the way up. The second guy had to go up with an axe and "sound" the roof, and do the same thing. That means he banged the top of the axe head into the roof the whole time he was climbing up the roof. The third guy had to go up, climb the roof ladder, and then bring it back down. I was that guy.
I don't like heights. Most of the people in class are either afraid of heights or tight spaces, and we'll be getting both in spades. Anyway, I don't like heights, but I've dealt with ladders and I knew I'd be okay, I just had to suck it up and do it. No big deal.
So I started climbing (we're wearing 30-35-lb SCBA air tanks at the time, but I don't remember feeling it) and I got all the way up no problem; didn't look down, feeling okay. Then I had to step off the ladder and onto the roof ladder, which was just laying against the roof. I took it real slow; the instructor on the ground was hollering up directions so I followed them. Pretty soon I was on the roof ladder, so I climbed up to the top of the roof, no big deal, and climbed back down. Getting back onto the ladder was no biggie, I still wasn't looking anywhere except for where I needed to put my limbs next, and I wasn't freaking out. I was back on the ladder leading to the ground, but I had to take the roof ladder with.
This was hard. I had a leglock going so I knew I wasn't going to fall off the ladder; that's where you do a slick little "put my leg through the rung and arrange it so I won't fall off" maneuver. After some coaching and straining, I had the roof ladder attached to my shoulder, but I was still in the leglock.
Today I learned that leglocks are awfully awkward to get out of, and they're flat out f**king horrible when you're 30 feet in the air and you've got a ladder hanging off your shoulder that you gotta keep control of. I knew I had to get out of the leglock, but when I first tried to by lifting myself up, it just wasn't happening. I was stuck. Instructor yelled "It's okay, you just gotta muscle it!" and I was all like "F**K YEAH, MUSCLE IT AND QUIT BEING SUCH A LOSER" so I did. I made a sound something like "EEEEEEEERRRRRGGG" and after what seemed like a monumental effort, I was free! I climbed down pretty slow, having that ladder was awkward and I did not like it.
It was awesome!
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