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I'm still waiting for some idiot to try it while the big chimney is still standing at Didcot. Thats 199m tall.
They did it a while back as a protest.
Unless we as a society have a radical rethink re. our attitude towards alcohol this won’t change.
What like bring in prohibition, that works well doesn't it. A man did something stupid and sadly payed the ultimate price for that stupidity. It happens and always will some people are just wired that way.
stupid question probably, but video footage shows him dangling by the ladder which presumably he climbed up, why couldn't rescuers climb up and if not get him down at least give him some support and a coat?
The ladder is presumably 150 years old and considered unsafe to use
why couldn’t rescuers climb up and if not get him down at least give him some support and a coat?
Got to assume an assessment considered this was unsafe. If the ladder was robust maybe possible but the commander has to consider the safety of his officers.
stupid question probably, but video footage shows him dangling by the ladder which presumably he climbed up, why couldn’t rescuers climb up and if not get him down at least give him some support and a coat?
We don't know, but I'm guessing the ladder was damaged/not safe to climb. (It looks to me like it's pulled away at the top which is may be how/why the guy ended up in that state.)
As you say if there had been a secure ladder they could at least have had someone up there talking to him ergo there can't have been.
why are you talking about prohibition? I am merely suggesting that if going out & getting so drunk you end up killing yourself (or someone else) becomes less socially acceptable, then less people will do it. (Exactly as has happened with drink driving, sexism, smoking, smacking children, etc)What like bring in prohibition, that works well doesn’t it. A man did something stupid and sadly payed the ultimate price for that stupidity. It happens and always will some people are just wired that way.
wwaswas
Subscriber
I’m working on the assumption that he had mental health issues and will avoid speculation until further information becomes available that contradicts this.
I cant tell if this post is speculation, not speculation, or sarcasm
Haha! Bruneep.
bruneep
Subscriber
😉
Also, who would climb up a rusting unsafe ladder with a 16 stone pissed idiot hanging right above you who could fall at any minute taking you with him?
Also, who would climb up a rusting unsafe ladder with a human being right above you who could fall at any minute taking you with him?
Nice point. Even if the ladder was safe before the incident it certainly wasn't with the Sword of Damocles hanging at the top. 🙁
Tragic.
He was clearly a fit lad no matter whether he's been on the ale or not. 90m up a vertical is not done easily.
But as I said before a very sad outcome which on another day may have been telling all your mates on Monday morning about what you got up to on Sunday night.
The chimney was restored recently so the ladder was probably in pretty good condition.
Unfortunately sometimes these sorts of structures are often a long standing “dare” to climb up, couple that with too many Stellas and you’ve got someone who used to be fit bragging and going through with a very dangerous climb beyond their physical ability at the time. Fred Dibnah started by climbing a chimney which he shouldn’t have been doing - the 262ft Barrow bridge one for a bet when he was young.
Probably been quite a few people done it over the years with no ill effect but that’s probably through luck more than anything else.
This guy might have got to the top and while moving around on the top of the ladder slipped and got caught in the ropes.
I think killing or being killed is pretty socially unacceptable already.
The ladders look like temporary Steeplejack ones, so it looks like someone has unfortunately taken advantage of them for a little adventure. I'll be interested to know if the rescue team involved people from a steeplejack firm ? - It does seem odd that someone didn't just climb up, clip a harness around him an lower him down.
I suspect he planned a grand exit from this world off the chimney top but fell and became entangled in the ladder.
The results of the PM should be interesting from a physiological stand point.
Very sad event.
I am merely suggesting that if going out & getting so drunk you end up killing yourself (or someone else) becomes less socially acceptable, then less people will do it.
I don't think getting drunk and killing yourself or others has ever been socially acceptable. But I don't think it was necessarily massively excessive drinking that killed this man (he did manage to climb nearly 100m up a ladder) but his impulsive risk taking personality. How does society alter that ?
I don't think alcohol has the pharmokinetics to drive somebody to do this.
And if in excess would have impaired the ability to scale the ladder.
I suspect psychoactives were involved.
Again - PM should be interesting along with a back story.
I'm not being ghoulish. Just want to know why/how/what. It's such a unique
incident.
You mean pharmacodynamics. Pharmacokinetics is what the body does to the drug (ie absorb, distrubute, metabolise and excrete it).
Alcohol could easily cause someone to hold the false confidence that climbing a tall chimney is possible. I've certainly experienced a sweet spot when drunk when I've passed rationality and still have the physical faculties to behave irrationaly. Adrenaline will carry you a fair way too, once you've put yourself in a dangerous situation.
I’ve certainly experienced a sweet spot when drunk when I’ve passed rationality and still have the physical faculties to behave irrationaly.
Mines 2-3 pints, I'm glad I don't walk past a steeple on my way home from the pub 😈😈
I’ve certainly experienced a sweet spot when drunk when I’ve passed rationality and still have the physical faculties to behave irrationaly. Adrenaline will carry you a fair way too, once you’ve put yourself in a dangerous situation.
and climbing up a ladder is way easier than climbing down it...
It does seem odd that someone didn’t just climb up, clip a harness around him an lower him down.
The reports were that the ladder was damaged and so unsafe. Both for someone climbing up and for the helicopter getting close enough to winch.
Adrenaline will carry you a fair way too, once you’ve put yourself in a dangerous situation.
Spinal Injury wards are full of anecdotes of drink and bravado
Adrenaline will carry you a fair way too, once you’ve put yourself in a dangerous situation.
There's a line near campus that I'd looked at riding 20+ times but always wimped out on, it involved a steep set of stairs with a 45 degree 1/2 way down, then riding along a 10m long 40cm wide wall to "drop in" on a ramp about 1m below which led into a really nice natural tabletop followed by a berm, completely doable but the risk was pretty high as the stairs had a very low railing and the wall had a 3m drop to one side, but we'd theorised that carrying speed would make it awesome! Did it one night after about 6 pints when riding back from the pub on the SS hack bike, was awesome and flowed beautifully. Never summoned the courage to do it again, I even bailed 1/2 way along the wall twice (to the safe side).
Regarding the ‘why didn’t they just...’ questions; bear in mind that the appetite for a body recovery is very different to that for a live rescue. I suspect that the emergency services had a very good idea of the individuals condition from the helo sortie; after that I don’t think that anyone was rushing. This bloke had been topless, upside down in a very exposed position for several hours before he was spotted. It was never going to have a happy ending.
I don’t think alcohol has the pharmokinetics to drive somebody to do this.
You’d be wrong then. People do incredible stupid things when drunk.
No idea if that was why he did this but it stands be quite possible.
Breaking news : Drac* concludes that somebody else is wrong.
*aka The Oracle.
People do incredible stupid things when drunk.
And most of the time they get away with it.
When I was about 17-18 we used to take a shortcut back from the pub to my mates house via an abandoned railway bridge across a river. It was rotten, sketchy and pretty much two steel beams left over a 20ft drop into a river. We got away with it.
5 yrs later his little brother went missing on his way home from the pub. No one knows exactly what happened but given they found him a few miles downstream a few days later I’ve got a good idea. He made the national news too.
I cant tell if this post is speculation, not speculation, or sarcasm
More like the whole 2 pages are mainly speculation.
All those hours hanging on a chimney in freezing temperatures, I reckon his death was flue related!
Just sad regardless of how it occurred. Feel for his family.
Funkmaster+1. Horrible for all concerned 🙁
Breaking news : Drac* concludes that somebody else is wrong
Derek - your presumption is that an external factor like drink or a drug would 'drive' someone to take an action. Drink and drugs don't have ideas for you. What drink or any other intoxicant can do is take away an inhibition. You might want to do something anyway and the only thing stopping you is that you're sober. The drink, or anything else, just stops you from stopping yourself.
Drink has always give a sense of bravado in my experience anyway, that's why I amongst other events have been through a shop window and rode down the local rather steep high street in a shopping trolley 2 up way before the jackass lads did it.
Derek I’m no oracle but alcohol is well known for effecting people’s judgement and inhibitions, which practically everyone has pointed out to you.
The rumours around town are he had a barney with his missus and climbed up to throw himself off.
Wether he jumped or fell we’ll probably never know
It does seem odd that someone didn’t just climb up, clip a harness around him an lower him down.
No it doesn't.
Would you climb up that ladder with a large unsecure load directly above you? I bet the fire officer in charge had to consider it in their risk assessment.
The vibrations on the ladder caused by your movement could have brought the mans body down on your head.
Your
What hasn’t been answered, is how the bloke managed to get to the bottom of the ladder, which is 15’ from the ground, even before climbing the rest of the way to the top.
Member
What hasn’t been answered, is how the bloke managed to get to the bottom of the ladder, which is 15’ from the ground, even before climbing the rest of the way to the top.
An investigation will determine this. Commenting on it here would be pure guess work of little value.
The man has now been named and sounds like none of the things he's been accused of in this thread. In fact he sounds like a lot of forum users. Poor chap.
Agreed
Used his own ladders to bridge the gap apparently, started to climb about 5:30 pm when it was just dark enough for nobody to notice.
BBC article says he had mental health problems. My sympathy for his family.