fishbrain / bigjobs / sho
The grade II* listed 200-odd foot chimney at Shaw Lodge Mill in Halifax really is a beauty of a structure. It was built in 1855 along with the new engine house and boiler for the massive Shaw Lodge Mills in an octagon shape, and sits nicely upon a big blocky millstone base.
The chimney hasn't seen any smoke for years but still undergoes periodic inspection and maintenance, which more often than not comes accompanied with a temporary install of LADDERS! The has been chat over the past couple of years to turn it into a climbing wall, and after tweeks spot of it whilst draining in Halifax we figured we give it a pre-opening test run.
A far cry from our last chimney climbing endeavor(the 132 meter concrete monster at hope) the ladders here were all wood, which had gotten slippy as hell in the typical Yorkshire spring weather. Getting up the sheer face of the 60ft base was a mission in itself, but once we'd started up the first section of the first ladder we were up in no time, the only minor obstacles being the masses of winch rope trailing down the ladder rises and the tiny squeeze at the top to get on to the high platform. Free climbing a 150 foot ladder might seem a bit sketch, but compared to the hope climb, this was rather enjoyable and didn't feel that shaky.
going up?
Cracking views as well.
I love the brickwork on these chimneys. Despite the fact the guys building these structures knew that only a handful of people would really ever see the fruits of their work close up, they all stuck to their rigorous no-compromising attitude to attention to detail, not something you get with modern concrete smoke stacks.
Going down.
After a leisurely downward climb it was time to pack up and vamoose... Chim Success!
props to jobs as usual for the mad skills.
