When the time was finally right we put the plan into motion. During the day Saturday we made sure we had all our supplies prepped : camera, warm dark clothes, and a flag to hang at the top of the tower if we made it. Grim as this may be, we both wrote goodbye notes to leave in our dorm in the off chance that something went terribly wrong and our bodies had to be scraped off the pavement.
First step : Scale this wall that I swore wasn't this tall last time I saw it. Free climb a pole attached to a 20 foot wall. No problem. Luckily, we ended up on a roof after the wall. Not knowing what was on the other side of the wall, I brought a rope in the off chance we had to climb our way out. On the roof the ladder for the tower begins and I start climbing.
Let me give you a scope of this tower. It's divided into 7 painted sections alternating red and white. Each of those 7 sections has about 45 rungs, and the rungs are about 2 feet apart. Figuring in the initial wall we had to climb it all comes out to being about 650 feet high. The good news is the tower has three platforms so you don't have to be a complete beast and climb all 650 feet at once. However, it is a little more than 200 feet between each platform and the difficulty of climbing that ladder became all too obvious from the very beginning.
The first length was the worst for me. I didn't know what to expect and I was relying too much on my arms to pull my body up. Remember: When climbing tall ladders or even rock climbing, trust and use your leg strength. Grasp with your hands, push with your feet. Thoughts of quitting or falling too my death began circling around my head about half way up the first length, but I kept on a powered my way to the first platform. Ben and I stopped for a much deserved rest. Our arms were screaming and we were scared but confident. Thank God for adrenaline.
Platform One:
The Top:
Ladder of death
If you look real close at the top of the tower you can spot the yellow flag
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