Report - Kelvedon Hatch Communication Mast - Essex - January 2013, July 2013

[bhg]

About six months ago I tried to climb this mast for the first time. And I failed... I remember checking GAJ and SarahSaw report before, was well impressed that they made it. So one foggy and misty morning I decided to go there and to try it myself. When I got close to it I realised that there was no cages around well exposed ladder, which I remember seeing on the previous report. At some point I even thought that it must be a totally different place hahhaa that I made a mistake while looking for it, or maybe there are even two the same looking masts one with a cage and one without hahhaha. Anyway I tried to climb it and as I said before I failed, and all I remember was fear and anger that I couldnt make it. Here is a story from my frst report:

When finally got to the bottom of the mast realised how tall it really was. The weather was geting worse and worse, foggy and miserable.
I've never climbed that high in my life. And must admit that I was a bit panicking there... Made couple of stops on the different levels. While trying to calm down my wobbly legs, I saw some deers walking around in the nearby bushes...
Sadly I gave up when got to the fourth level (I'm guessing it was fourth - one by satellite dishes) - mainly because it started to rain quite badly.
I will have to go back there at some point in the future, but next time i'm going to make sure to check the weather forecast before...

And some pictures:

and misty weather:

I was really upset after my first visit there and always wanted to go and try climb it again.

I don't really know how tall is the mast itself, But it just looks just amazing - magnificent structure, a beautiful landmark made of steel.

So after few months I went there again, this time with GAJ who climbed the same mast (with SarahSaw) around a year before.
When we got to the bottom of the structure GAJ seemed to be quite suprised that they removed all the cages..So here I am again (excuse my crazy bruises from previous explores

And again I am scared... Exposed ladders scare me, I must admit, with no cage around its even worse. I'm pretty sure that cage wouldn't really stop me falling down anyway but at least it makes feel a bit safer...

GAJ went first and I followed him...
And 6 months after my first fail I started climbing it again...:

When I got to the first level I was really scared. And I could feel my arms aching, the pain I knew before, more psychological than psychical to be honest. It was exactly the same like first time, I could feel the fear that stopped me before Than I started feeling really angry cause I just simply didn't want to fail again. At some point - it must third or fourth level, adrenaline finally kicked in and I was fine, I wasn't really scared anymore, my arms were much better and I carried on to the top.

Then I didn't really want to stop and have a rest on every level, all I could think about was to get to the top and have a fag hahaha.

And I finally made it

last level - it felt wobbly there, mast was slightly moving :-)

and last few metres

and finally

I must say that I was very happy that I finally made it GAJ - thank you for the great time (even if was swearing at some point) and documenting my climbing

Here is some pics I took later not many :

GAJ

pink

Well and then we were on the way back to London.. And I felt just great, excited and happy that this time I made it...

So farewell Kelvedon Mast I don't think I will ever climb you again

Enjoy

 

[EOA]

I really enjoyed reading your trials and tribulations of getting to the top

 

[duncandisorderly]

some awesome pics there!!! Loved the write-up too