Up the Mast

Well, I went up the mast this morning. And I can honestly say, that I hope I never have to do that again. I'm not a fan of heights in the first place, and hanging by a thin line 30' above the deck is not my idea of a good time.

Unfortunately, I do have to go back up, probably later this afternoon. I only took the c-clamp up with me this morning to try to press the radar reflector frame closer to the mast. I didn't have any success, but at that height, I'm not as nimble as I'd be on solid ground, so it probably could still be done some time in the future. As soon as I recover from the first ascent, I'll go back up and put on the chafing gear.

The biggest problem, aside from a healthy fear of heights, is that I'm exhausted. I'm probably not doing it correctly, which is making it more work than it needs to be, but I did finally get the hang of it coming down. It's really a lot more work than I'd expected.

I'm sure it has a lot to do with how I've got my daisies adjusted -- those or the lines connecting the ascenders to my harness. I think the right one was too short, not allowing me to go quite as high, and the left may have been too tight. I'll play around with them a little before I go back up.

Btw, have you ever noticed that you never see an overweight climber? There's a really good reason for that -- it's a lot of work pulling up your own weight. I'm not fat, but I'd feel a lot better about climbing back up there if I could loose half my weight.

Working the spring loaded cams on the ascenders was also a pain -- my hands are aching. And of course, once you get up there, you have no choice but to come down, and coming down is when you have to trip the cams. My mistake was doing that most of the way up, which was stupid now that I think about it. It's also why I'm so tired now.