From climbing rocks to climbing towers

With a field boasting as many opportunities as tower climbing, it comes as a surprise that more women are not engaging in active employment within the field. Those that are, assume the role of trail-blazers in a predominately male industry. Out of an approximately 9,000 tower climbers in the USA, only 15 were female. The occupation gets negative representation for being physically demanding and dangerous, but it is only as dangerous as one makes it.

One of these trail blazers is Lauren James, a climber from North Carolina. Her career in tower climbing, which has since become passion, began with her love of rock climbing. This “tower dog,” a pet name climbers use for one another, climbs 500 vertical feet, for up to a months straight, while hauling 30 pounds of gear. She was intrigued by welding as a kid and become interested enough to study welding in college. Some of her family had been in the tower climbing industry and they encouraged her when James decided she wanted to pursue the career. Soon after she was applying for jobs in North Carolina.

Cell tower technicians/tower climbers are the eyes of the tower owners. Each time they climb towers the tower climbers look for bent or bending steel, loose bolts, irregularities, loose wires and ill fitting connections. Climbing some of the towers feels like doing pull-ups for 500+ feet. Not only is it pulling up body weight, but there is 30 or more pounds of harness.

James admits that her background in rock climbing better prepared her for her tower-climbing career. She already possessed the stamina and endurance which is required for tower climbing, once she got used to the gear, whatever remaining fear of climbing she had left her. She does admit that rock climbing is more diverse.

Her routine consists of travelling for three to four weeks, then she is off and at home for a week. All in all about 252 days per year James spends on the road, in hotels with truck stop coffee.She has climbed towers in 35 states. Even working seven days a week, James still gets inspired sometimes upon towers. She explains “I’ve experienced some beautiful scenery and done some cool things.” The views from 500 feet in the air can be almost hypnotic.

Despite her experience, James chooses to stay in North Carolina. She rock climbs in her time off at remote locations such as Linville Gorge and New River Gorge which is always close to her heart. New River Gorge was the site of her first climb. James is not only involved in the tower climber community, she is involved in the rock climbing community as well. For her the experience of climbing is truly a spiritual one.

More women should be encouraged to experience this field. Not only are women an asset, but there is nothing they are incapable of, especially when driven by passion, as Lauren James can attest to.

 

http://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/climbing/cell-tower-climbing-with-lauren-james/

 

 

From climbing rocks to climbing towers

Women Tower Climbers

Tower climbers throughout the world are known for their incredible strength and daring. Climbing up towers that are completely exposed to the elements, in all weathers, carrying a large amount of equipment that is incredibly heavy, is not really for the faint of heart. Add into that the detailed knowledge, experience, and qualifications that a tower climber will need to have in the field of electronics, and it is no wonder that many people, when they are asked to imagine within their mind’s eye the typical tower climber, think of a man.


But this is changing. More and more girls are finishing school with a deep interest in science and electronics, and are discovering at university or college that there is a whole world of electronics based careers that they can go into. At a very basic level, there is absolutely nothing from preventing a woman from studying electronics, and excelling at it. Having a womb doesn’t mean that you can’t think, and it doesn’t preclude you from understanding some of the most difficult and complex theories, as well as complicated practical working environments.

This trend can be seen throughout the computing and electronics industry. One brilliant example of this is Limor Fried, a woman who has created a highly successful company based around offering people simple kits to modify the electronics that they already own. Her company Adafruit Industries is fast becoming a world leader in allowing people and both men and women and to take control of the electronic devices that they own in a very positive way. She was also the very first woman that ever graced the cover of the highly popular electronics magazine Wired in 2011.

There are many women throughout the electronic and computing industries that are challenging preconceptions about what a woman can and can’t do and but the world of tower climbing is slightly different. Without contravening the laws of political correctness, one of the very necessary requirements of being a tower climber is a high level of power and strength, which is not something that many women possess. There are also many stereotypes of women that have them panicking every time something small goes wrong, and not being able to keep their heads in a crisis. So is it possible for women tower climbers to be successful?

Lauren James would argue yes. At the young and tender age of merely twenty four, she is one of the very few tower climbers that is both earning well, and a woman. Out of the 9000 tower cell tower climbers that are working in her area, she is only one of fifteen that are female. This hasn’t dampened her spirits, however, and she loves challenging people’s stereotypes of what a tower climber should look and sound like. It is the love of climbing that brought Lauren James to the world of tower climbing, not that of electronics, proving that there is more than one way for a woman to find herself deeply set in the world of tower climbing.

If you are a girl or a woman that is interested in tower climbing, do not let the male dominated environment put you off. You have every chance of being just as successful as any man ñ after all, not every man that you see could be a successful tower climber! It is all about how you approach your job: if you work hard, and put in some serious preparation before hand, there is no reason why you cannot climb any tower, just like the rest of them.

Women Tower Climbers