My load line got tangled 80 feet up during a job in Portland

I was working a tower crane job downtown Portland last Tuesday, lifting steel beams for a 12 story building. The wind kicked up pretty bad around 3pm and my load line twisted into a nasty birdcage about 80 feet up. I had to stop everything and lower the hook real slow, letting the cable spin itself out. Took me nearly 45 minutes to get it sorted and I lost half the afternoon. Has anyone else dealt with a birdcage on a windy day? What did you do to fix it?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan1241mo ago

Had a similar thing happen once with a crane at a lumber yard in Eugene, the wind was just whipping through those tight gaps between buildings. Ended up just lowering the hook real slow and letting the cable spin itself out, same as you, but it still took forever.

barbara4291mo agoOG Member

Did you at least have a buddy there to laugh at you while you waited? lol I swear the universe picks the worst moments for that stuff, like when you've got a whole site waiting. My arms were so sore the next day from just holding the controls steady, I felt like I'd been arm wrestling a bear.