Anyone this fearsome?

[reswire]

I had a power pole break underground on me once, fell 18 feet on a pile of cinder blocks.  Needless to say, I broke my back in 2 places and underwent one heck of a surgery to repair the mess.  Two 8 inch steel rods, one battery pack, and some laminate mixed with donated cadaver bone later, I was up and around,,, but never as good as new.  Went back to work, for another three years, and then had the luck to fall 12 feet when a scaffold collapsed on a new house site.  This time I hit a concrete floor, ruptured my spleen, broke my back again in two different places, broke my wrist in 23 places, dislocated my right arm, herniated 3 discs in my neck,,,, missed about 7 weeks from work.  Being as I was self employed during both accidents, no workman's comp. or insurance to cover lost wages or injuries...   Since then I don't climb anything.  I can't lift much more than a marshmellow, but I still manage to work every day on something.   

Ask me to do what that fool is doing???????  One very, very, very big,,,,, HECK NO!!!!   Once broken, even if you live, life is never the same.  Safety is my number one concern now.   ;D

[redprospector]

Wow!
My Daddy used to tell me that there was a fine line between bravery, and stupidity. I think that guy just took a flying leap across that line.

[Tom L]

at least he has the other machine's bucket in the right position to catch him

[buzywoodliff]

I looked at this a second time.... Are they protecting that shed with a second bobcat???!!!!

Safety first I guess!   WoW

[John S]

With those two machines on the ground (one holding a ladder), maybe this is just part of his BUCKET LIST?

[Solomon]

It looks like the loader in the background is protecting the roof on that structure?  It also looks like the phone and power lines are right there, almost in line with the tree.  All you need to do is call the power company and they will take it down for free if it looks to be a hazard.

My thought exactly.   The second ladder acually in the tree boggles my mind.
Just when I thought I've seen it all along comes a tree cutter with a ladder  " UP IN THE FLIPPIN TREE ".   Now I've seen it all !    Most folks w.ant to go to heaven, and it appears that he's in a hurry to get there.

[Magicman]

Take a close look and you will see that the top ladder is not secured at the bottom.  Also the top section of the bottom ladder is not as long as the bottom section.  Both are valid reasons to suspect serious picture tampering.   ;D

My DIL took our family photo on July 4th, but when the picture was printed, there she was in the picture.  Standing there with the rest of us but she wasn't when the picture was taken.  Folks that know what they are doing can do stuff.

[Jemclimber]

Good point MM. Also, I see the bucket and loader arms over the shed, but I don't see any skid steer or tractor holding the loader up. It looks like a guy is down there where the machinery should be, or maybe I'm blind.     I suspect photoshop at work.

[beenthere]

MM points to what I was about to post. The top ladder and tree appears to be a different photo merged with the longer ladder photo showing it in the skidsteer bucket.

To me, the clue is there is no way that the top ladder could be positioned/perched on that stub, and as well for  the climber being able to get over on to that ladder from the bottom one in the bucket. Physically impossible, as I see it.

But it is a good "Hold my Beer"  (HMB) photo for kicks. 

Now as to the ladder in the skidsteer bucket, that reminds me of being 16 yr old and a summer job helping build a house and paint the farm buildings. The farmers 22 yr old son and I were spray-painting the barn that was 50' up to the eaves. The 40' extension ladder wouldn't reach without putting it in the little Farmall loader bucket. After a few up and down trips climbing to the top, spraying a small section, climbing back down to move a few feet... the farm boy said "just stay up there, and I'll move the tractor". Worked for awhile, until the front wheels dropped in a hole and the bucket moved a long way. Down I came along the barn. Ladder caught a big gate post , broke in many pieces, and I stopped still standing with my hand on the top of the post. No harm done, but was a scary but quick trip down.

Reminds me of the video out for kids now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw

[Gary_C]

I suspect photoshop at work.

I completely agree. Those powerlines are too close together and too many in one place. Plus the lines do not connect to the pole and the faint upper lines are above the insulator on the pole.

A doctored photo for sure but don't let that spoil the fun.  :D

[Magicman]

Many (most) times fun and fiction will bring the most smiles anyway.   :D

[Nomad]

Many (most) times fun and fiction will bring the most smiles anyway.   :D

     True, and no harm done.  Looking at this under high magnification, it's clear this is a "cut and paste" fabrication. 

[TimRB]

how did he get the top ladder up there?

Good point.  I am +1 on the photoshop theory.  Even ignoring the miraculous placement of the second ladder, anyone adept enough to climb to and onto it would be a good enough climber that he would not use ladders at all.

Tim

[pine]

I believe clearly photo shopped. 
The tree in the foreground is quite a bit closer than the lower ladder but the ladder is closer to the camera than the lower branches of said tree.  Does not fit logic for the layout.  Those lower branches are not long enough to cover the distance back to the loader and ladder lower area.  There has been effort spent to doctor the photo but there are several other inconsistencies of which several have been mentioned by others.

[JimFX]

If it's on the internet it must be true .....
: )

[SPIKER]

That barn & ladder story reminds me of a trip my brother took as a Drywall Hanger/finisher for 35 years.   We did a LOT of the High End homes on west side of Cleveland and the suburbs over the 80's thru 2000's.   One of the homes had a Vaulted Ceiling (35 or 40 feet up) in the Great Room.   The house was done for a while (early 90's) and owners had been moved in for a couple years.   Along the end wall of the room was a BIG fireplace and Mantle imported from Italy (solid marble.)   The floors were polished Brazilian Walnut with some nice inlays thru it. 

   The well to do home owner was there to point all this out how he had all this nice stuff and to make sure nothing was damaged.   He placed all kinds of demands on us, No can't put the ladder on the marble, can't damage the floor with the gritty ladder feet, etc he went on for 15+ min each time he thought something might get damaged.   We figured it was starting out to be a problem when he wanted us to park down on the street (drive was probably 2000 feet of concrete as old truck might leak on it.)   

Now we had a 40' extension ladder but couldn't get it into the home (might damage door frame & owner would not let us remove window and screen to pass it thru.   We also had a 30' and my Bro figured it would be able to get up there.   Well with the ladder close but not quite.   There was a Italian Marble stoop in front of the big fireplace (could not put ladder on it owner would not let him fear it might crack it.)    So the short ladder is set angled heavily (up & down) pretty far out at the base & pretty far from the point he needed to work on.   The guy would not let him put the ladder legs on wood floor directly (it had to be a rug under the legs) on the wood floor.   We had been there almost 2 hours now without even getting the 15 min job done.   My brother pointed out how the ladder leaning that way might damage his wall and could slip with the rug under it but the owner insisted.

  Well this ladder is leaning at angle too far out and my brother dang near walked up the ladder without using his hands.   I stood on the bottom of the ladder with my foot against the rug/bottom rung.   My brother stretched up to start to re-tape the cracked peak above the fireplace and the ladder slid, shoved me across floor and him down the wall he went!   My boot left a nice black rubber mark on the floor and ladder left 2 big rubs on the wall.   When he got to the big marble mantle my brother stepped onto it with one foot & hooked the ladder to keep it from bashing the marble...      This guy was all panicked like look at the damage you did!   My brother about as calm as could be said I warned you what might happen and you said do it, you endangered my life by not letting me to the job safely how would you like to pay us for our time cash or check... 8)   The guy was like you didn't even fix the spot.   Without missing a beat my bro was like I only about die once a day then I take the rest of the day off & go fishing...

   We packed up our stuff and left, sent him a bill for our time plus the driving.   Looking back this guy was quite upset with two large scrapes on the wall and black marks on the nice floor...   The guy had us come back the following week & we fixed all the damage to the drywall, we put down some plywood on the marble stoop with 2x4 screwed to put legs against.   The guy wasn't there but his wife was and she was nice as could be & paid us with cash for both trips with a nice tip for having almost killed my brother the week prior.  8) 8) 8)   

Mark

[blade69001]

Pictures like that, photo shopped or not are the reason I use spikes when I go up in trees.

[scsmith42]

It's pretty clear that it is a fake.  If you zoom in on the ladders, you can see the pixelation in the photo where they were pasted in.  Also, based upon the shadows on the skid steer and power poles the sun was directly overhead.  However, the shadow's for the ladder rungs on the bottom ladder are almost horizontal...