Climbers in Zafasadia. How the promalps on the Lakhta Center tower work
In the discussion for the last post , industrial climbers who now work on the Lakhta Center tower got into the spotlight. And so we decided to talk more about these guys, whose exciting work makes them feel both envy and the thought - “Oh, no way !!!”, usually expressed much more briefly and concisely. If you share this emotional dualism charged with adrenaline, then we invite you for the facade! Today - hang out with climbers!
When it comes to climbers, as a rule, two irreconcilable camps arise. Some believe that people who devote all their free time to climbing steep cliffs, risking their lives every minute, and climbing to a height where all living things die from a lack of oxygen and severe frost, are simply adrenaline maniacs.
Others admire the daredevils, who are ready to give everything in order to look at the world from the top of the highest mountain or to follow a route that no one has ever walked before.
The truth is somewhere in between. On the one hand, overcoming difficulties to achieve a goal, striving for a new one is the most important part of the human being. On the other hand, it is probably not particularly wise to talk about justifiable risk for the sake of conquering uncharted peaks, dying in a gigantic line on Everest.
However, there are people who spend most of their lives at a dizzying height, without a reliable point of support, but at the same time are engaged in a matter that even the most skeptical expert will not call meaningless. It is about industrial climbers.
Industrial climbers themselves say that romance in their work is 10% off, and the rest is hard work. But somewhere here they are cunning. Judging by the selfies, which are done by installers working on the construction of the Lakhta Center, the work did not become a routine for them.
The tower on Lakhta is shared by climbers from Ilros Montazh and Almaz Group companies. Their current tasks are the installation of SOF rails and barrage lights on a spire. Lakhta Center is one of the most interesting and complex objects that I had to work on.
Before you get to work through the technical gate located at the 87th level of the tower, you need to be instructed: the shift receives a task, they sort out who and what is doing, pick up equipment and tools.
“All nodes must be in Feng Shui”
Next - inspection of equipment and not the closest path to the top of a skyscraper.
The “Heaven's Gate”, from which the crane of the facade service system (SOF) will go in the future, and now climbers are working, deserve a separate mention. They are located on the technical floor and are a complex of 20 "secret doors" - special facade sections along the perimeter of the tower. When you need to go to the facade of the building, sections automatically open inward. The control system of this design “sees” all sections at the same time, determines the climatic risks and connects the gate to the elements of the SOF.
Here is the open section:
The door to the "Zafasade"
Going to Work
Before going to the facade - a mandatory photo.
Each weight can reach 15 kilograms.
From there, like from a magician’s hat, keys, screwdrivers and wire cutters appear at the right time - everything is tied:
Some tool is separate, but also connected with its own climber inextricable communication:
And all the same, signalmen are on duty below, preventing outsiders from entering the danger zone. Climbers joke that they don’t have a snack during work, just because everything needs to be tied, and a sandwich cannot be tied.
The industrial climbing cell is a link: there is an observer at the top, an observer at the bottom and two people at the installation. Mounting on a spire can be done by three.
But one at a time they don’t work at a height - this is the law, because even such a minor nuisance as a tangled rope for a loner can become a problem.
As a rule, the links have a stable composition. People are friends, communicate, trigger or fail. And people who are uncomfortable to work together do not fall into one link.
Work on the facade is all-weather and in different weathers. Climbers love less than the heat.
Winter equipment
In the wind, work is limited. According to the rules, the critical force is 15 m / s, but often the work stops already at 10 m / s.
The subjective reason for the climber to stop working and go down to the ground is a feeling of discomfort.
“Scars” as a keepsake. It was an honest battle
Photo by Anton Galakhov “Thunderstorm in St. Petersburg”. Read more about how lightning protection works and how the tower acted as a city-wide lightning rod, read here
All the communication above is via walkie-talkie, although it also catches mobile. Usually the phone is uncovered not for the sake of conversation - to take a photo or video is necessary in the process. And sometimes just for fun. Where else can you see the sun when the clouds are immediately under your feet and above your head?
Speaks and shows: camera plus walkie-talkie. For continuous technical video recording climbers use goPro cameras
The air at 400 meters high is full of living creatures. According to climbers, sometimes the spire is simply plastered with midges. It is amazing how she gets here - not otherwise, on the wings of the wind ... There are also larger "smaller brothers".
High-flying mouse
And also the Lakhta Center simply attracts pilots of copters. When flying behind the scenes, they are far from always aware that they can interfere with people working on the facade and expose them to unnecessary risk. An exception - official shooting with climbers - and people are ready, and the shots are fantastic.
***
What do you need to get on the spire of a skyscraper? Of course, do not be afraid of heights. Secondly, to undergo serious training and constantly improve their qualifications.
Practicing rescue operations:
The first person to come to the rescue is a partner. When work is at risk, and you are responsible for living next to someone hanging, it’s not enough to know what to do. We must work out everything in practice, so that in a difficult moment we don’t indulge in memories of the theory of first aid, but immediately act - clearly, correctly, without getting lost
The main focus with promalpas is that mountaineering itself is just a way to get to the place of work. Therefore, everyone has a bunch of additional specialties. For example, in order to mount obstruction lights on the spire of the Lakhta Center, you need to be an electrician. And climbers became electricians. This is a much more realistic approach than pulling out an ordinary electrician in Zafasadia, having trained him in the basics of mountaineering.
Installation and adjustment of signal lights on the spire of the Lakhta Center tower
Since there is no unchanged recipe for working in skyscrapers - each superhigh is unique, you need to have a certain ingenuity and engineering vision. For example, the first question that the installers on the towers of Lakhta Center faced was: what to do with 360 meters of free ropes, because they are attached at level 87 and go down to the ground. In order for the ropes not to be carried by the wind, they had to be fixed on the facade, and so that it was not only safe, but also convenient. It was not possible to achieve this right away, and the path of the installer to the place of work took 3-4 hours, because every five floors - in the places of fastening the ropes - the climber had to run over. As a result, a simple fixture was developed from a bracket with a corner and a carabiner that holds the rope.
Very different people come to industrial climbers. Among them are techies and humanities. Someone likes to spend a vacation in the country, and someone goes to the mountains for new difficult routes. It combines one thing:
This feeling is precisely freedom, not risk or adrenaline euphoria. A competent industrial climber will never allow himself to risk his life - his own or his partner. In the professional environment there is a saying that a climber who has ceased to be afraid should be dismissed urgently.
Sergey Kolpakov, industrial climber "Ilros Montazh", with the memorable album "New Height". On the cover - photo of Sergey on the spire of the tower of the Lakhta Center
PS
All climbers working on the tower of the Lakhta Center are dedicated.
***
Thank you for your help in preparing the material for industrial climbers - Ilya Pichuzhkin, Sergey Kolpakov (Ilros Montazh), Sergey Belousov, Alexander Lugovoi (Almaz Group), TetraStroy project manager Ildar Nasypov and site manager Yegor Lapin - also from TetraStroy, as well as Alexander Luchin, the head of the facades and structural design department of the Tower building and Maxim Gerliman, chief specialist of the labor protection and fire safety department of IFC Lakhta Center
What's the point of this?
When it comes to climbers, as a rule, two irreconcilable camps arise. Some believe that people who devote all their free time to climbing steep cliffs, risking their lives every minute, and climbing to a height where all living things die from a lack of oxygen and severe frost, are simply adrenaline maniacs.
Others admire the daredevils, who are ready to give everything in order to look at the world from the top of the highest mountain or to follow a route that no one has ever walked before.
The truth is somewhere in between. On the one hand, overcoming difficulties to achieve a goal, striving for a new one is the most important part of the human being. On the other hand, it is probably not particularly wise to talk about justifiable risk for the sake of conquering uncharted peaks, dying in a gigantic line on Everest.
However, there are people who spend most of their lives at a dizzying height, without a reliable point of support, but at the same time are engaged in a matter that even the most skeptical expert will not call meaningless. It is about industrial climbers.
Not romance. Or yes?
Industrial climbers themselves say that romance in their work is 10% off, and the rest is hard work. But somewhere here they are cunning. Judging by the selfies, which are done by installers working on the construction of the Lakhta Center, the work did not become a routine for them.
The tower on Lakhta is shared by climbers from Ilros Montazh and Almaz Group companies. Their current tasks are the installation of SOF rails and barrage lights on a spire. Lakhta Center is one of the most interesting and complex objects that I had to work on.
Sergey Belousov, industrial climber Almaz Group:
- This tower is the first of its kind and will probably be the only one. Still, the tallest building in Europe, and a view from above reveals nothing like that. Everyone knows that in St. Petersburg there are very beautiful sunsets, and from there they are even more beautiful
Through the gates of heaven
Before you get to work through the technical gate located at the 87th level of the tower, you need to be instructed: the shift receives a task, they sort out who and what is doing, pick up equipment and tools.
“All nodes must be in Feng Shui”
Next - inspection of equipment and not the closest path to the top of a skyscraper.
The “Heaven's Gate”, from which the crane of the facade service system (SOF) will go in the future, and now climbers are working, deserve a separate mention. They are located on the technical floor and are a complex of 20 "secret doors" - special facade sections along the perimeter of the tower. When you need to go to the facade of the building, sections automatically open inward. The control system of this design “sees” all sections at the same time, determines the climatic risks and connects the gate to the elements of the SOF.
Here is the open section:
The door to the "Zafasade"
Going to Work
Sandwich on a string
Before going to the facade - a mandatory photo.
Maxim Gerliman, chief specialist of the department of labor protection and fire safety at IFC Lakhta Center:The main part of the tools is placed in such small bags with a puff:
- Before going to the facade of climbers, the responsible leader examines and photographs them for monthly reporting. The photo should show that personal equipment is complete, all devices are in order, and the ropes along which the descent is made are securely fixed. All tools used by installers must be fastened to climbers to prevent falling down. For the same reason, a special hardware catcher was even developed for the installation of SOF rails.
Each weight can reach 15 kilograms.
From there, like from a magician’s hat, keys, screwdrivers and wire cutters appear at the right time - everything is tied:
Some tool is separate, but also connected with its own climber inextricable communication:
And all the same, signalmen are on duty below, preventing outsiders from entering the danger zone. Climbers joke that they don’t have a snack during work, just because everything needs to be tied, and a sandwich cannot be tied.
Four
The industrial climbing cell is a link: there is an observer at the top, an observer at the bottom and two people at the installation. Mounting on a spire can be done by three.
But one at a time they don’t work at a height - this is the law, because even such a minor nuisance as a tangled rope for a loner can become a problem.
As a rule, the links have a stable composition. People are friends, communicate, trigger or fail. And people who are uncomfortable to work together do not fall into one link.
Alexander Lugovoi, director of work at Almaz Group:
- Once a person was even driven out of the facility because he could not get along with anyone. People went down and said to the foreman: "Do not put me more with him, it is impossible to work together." And when this man went through all the links and didn’t work with anyone, of course, he had to leave
Weather
Work on the facade is all-weather and in different weathers. Climbers love less than the heat.
Sergey Kolpakov, industrial climber "Ilros Installation":Heavy and bulky clothing is not at all like a sheepskin sheepskin coat, as it is painted. At the height and with hours of work, such sensations can be obtained even from weightless and warm membrane anatomical overalls - a typical winter equipment of industrial climbers.
- A lot of clothing is necessary to put on yourself. It is heavy, begins to cling to everything, fetters movement. Even if necessary, you can’t get down quickly. In addition, a lot of energy is spent on keeping warm. In the heat, you can take water with you, but at -15 what do you take with you?
Winter equipment
In the wind, work is limited. According to the rules, the critical force is 15 m / s, but often the work stops already at 10 m / s.
The subjective reason for the climber to stop working and go down to the ground is a feeling of discomfort.
Alexander Lugovoi, work manager for Almaz Group:Climbers never work in a thunderstorm. At the same time, they are the only people who see live traces of last year’s September “battles” of the lightning tower when they powerfully attacked the spire three times. This did not cause harm to the skyscraper, and yet the celestial guest left such small marks on the spire:
- It’s normal when a person decides to stop work if he’s not ready for it, he feels insecure, he doesn’t like something, it just seems like the wind will fly now. Nobody needs a climber who will hang at high altitude and will need to be saved ...
“Scars” as a keepsake. It was an honest battle
Photo by Anton Galakhov “Thunderstorm in St. Petersburg”. Read more about how lightning protection works and how the tower acted as a city-wide lightning rod, read here
Lakhti, as you hear, a reception!
All the communication above is via walkie-talkie, although it also catches mobile. Usually the phone is uncovered not for the sake of conversation - to take a photo or video is necessary in the process. And sometimes just for fun. Where else can you see the sun when the clouds are immediately under your feet and above your head?
Speaks and shows: camera plus walkie-talkie. For continuous technical video recording climbers use goPro cameras
Do mosquitoes fly to the sky?
The air at 400 meters high is full of living creatures. According to climbers, sometimes the spire is simply plastered with midges. It is amazing how she gets here - not otherwise, on the wings of the wind ... There are also larger "smaller brothers".
High-flying mouse
And also the Lakhta Center simply attracts pilots of copters. When flying behind the scenes, they are far from always aware that they can interfere with people working on the facade and expose them to unnecessary risk. An exception - official shooting with climbers - and people are ready, and the shots are fantastic.
***
How to get to the steeple
What do you need to get on the spire of a skyscraper? Of course, do not be afraid of heights. Secondly, to undergo serious training and constantly improve their qualifications.
Илья Пичужкин, руководитель компании «Илрос Монтаж»:A few photos from the February internship:
— Я знаю о том, что корочку промышленного альпиниста можно купить. Но у нас с этим строго. Спортсмен ты или нет, иди учиться. Периодически проходим стажировки – последняя такая была в феврале. Всем коллективом арендовали полигон, пригласили инструкторов, и все отработали, в том числе, спасательные работы. Это, кстати, требуется по европейским нормам IRATA – международной ассоциации канатного доступа.
Practicing rescue operations:
The first person to come to the rescue is a partner. When work is at risk, and you are responsible for living next to someone hanging, it’s not enough to know what to do. We must work out everything in practice, so that in a difficult moment we don’t indulge in memories of the theory of first aid, but immediately act - clearly, correctly, without getting lost
The installer is today, the electrician is tomorrow, the climber is always
The main focus with promalpas is that mountaineering itself is just a way to get to the place of work. Therefore, everyone has a bunch of additional specialties. For example, in order to mount obstruction lights on the spire of the Lakhta Center, you need to be an electrician. And climbers became electricians. This is a much more realistic approach than pulling out an ordinary electrician in Zafasadia, having trained him in the basics of mountaineering.
Installation and adjustment of signal lights on the spire of the Lakhta Center tower
Since there is no unchanged recipe for working in skyscrapers - each superhigh is unique, you need to have a certain ingenuity and engineering vision. For example, the first question that the installers on the towers of Lakhta Center faced was: what to do with 360 meters of free ropes, because they are attached at level 87 and go down to the ground. In order for the ropes not to be carried by the wind, they had to be fixed on the facade, and so that it was not only safe, but also convenient. It was not possible to achieve this right away, and the path of the installer to the place of work took 3-4 hours, because every five floors - in the places of fastening the ropes - the climber had to run over. As a result, a simple fixture was developed from a bracket with a corner and a carabiner that holds the rope.
Alexander Lugovoi, director of work from Almaz Group:
- The project in reality, as a rule, differs from what is on paper. Everything needs to be finalized on the spot, including at the factory. For example, we participated in the assembly of the SOF rail at the plant and on the ground we found several unrealizable when working at the height of assembly manipulations.
Very different people come to industrial climbers. Among them are techies and humanities. Someone likes to spend a vacation in the country, and someone goes to the mountains for new difficult routes. It combines one thing:
Sergey Belousov, Almaz Group:
- We are all different and value each other’s differences. But for everyone, industrial mountaineering is an opportunity to combine work with the feeling of freedom that height gives.
This feeling is precisely freedom, not risk or adrenaline euphoria. A competent industrial climber will never allow himself to risk his life - his own or his partner. In the professional environment there is a saying that a climber who has ceased to be afraid should be dismissed urgently.
Ilya Pichuzhkin, "Ilros Montazh":
- How much he worked as a climber, there was always a feeling of excitement when you cross the edge outward.
Alexander Lugovoi, Almaz Group:
And one more feeling - pride in what I do. This is not pathos, just in our profession, objectively, not everyone can get
Sergey Kolpakov, industrial climber "Ilros Montazh", with the memorable album "New Height". On the cover - photo of Sergey on the spire of the tower of the Lakhta Center
PS
High-altitude installers
All climbers working on the tower of the Lakhta Center are dedicated.
***
Thank you for your help in preparing the material for industrial climbers - Ilya Pichuzhkin, Sergey Kolpakov (Ilros Montazh), Sergey Belousov, Alexander Lugovoi (Almaz Group), TetraStroy project manager Ildar Nasypov and site manager Yegor Lapin - also from TetraStroy, as well as Alexander Luchin, the head of the facades and structural design department of the Tower building and Maxim Gerliman, chief specialist of the labor protection and fire safety department of IFC Lakhta Center