Fred Dibnah - How to Ladder a Chimney
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ธ.ค. 2024
- Step back in time with this classic video featuring the fearless steeplejack that was Fred Dibnah.
Watch as he fearlessly ascends a towering chimney with a ladder - a demonstration of his incredible craftsmanship and unwavering spirit. Join us for a glimpse into the world of a true master craftsman. Fred Dibnah's passion and skill were on full display in this iconic moment. Enjoy the climb!
#FredDibnah #steeplejack
What a man, His likes will never be seen again, Rest In Peace Fred
That's right that! Fred is a national treasure!
Meh, once we get taken out by a meteor, and all our tech disappears, someone like Fred will come along once again
@@cantcomeupwithausern Hahaha that's pure facts 😂😂😂
@@cantcomeupwithausern Don't type such tripe. Man will erase himself from this planet and there will not be a human race forever. Where do you get your ideas from?
@@DaillestBiggiesmalls It will not be a meteor... and once mankind has been ended by its own hand... we will not be back. Are you the most intelligent person in your family - or do you have to share the family brain cell?
Sounds complicated, but Fred was the master of laddering a 200-foot chimney
What a lovely bloke & true character🙌
RIP Fred
My mini claim to fame is that I stood & watched Fred on Bolton Church steeple! I was fascinated.. People were going about their day & did not not seem aware. Just Fred, his ladders & some ropes. Would be stopped these days because of "Elf & Safe" I guess? What a legend he was. Thank you for posting.
Yeah God forbid you do something safely. Technology has evolved, you can do it quicker, cheaper, easier, and a hell of a lot safer by renting the man lift that's 6 ft away from him to the right. I understand they were documenting the last of the real old time steeplejacks, but you have to evolve with the times. You are literally risking life and limb, and your family's financial security to make a couple thousand dollars if that, fixing a rotten smoke stack. Not even fixing it, inspecting it to see if it needs to be fixed. I understand that's the way he had to do it back in the day. But at the time this video was filmed obviously there were quicker, safer, and more efficient ways to do it. All those people that say what happened to men like this, they died. They either fell off of 200 ft smoke stacks and died, or got cancer from the residual carcinogens in the coal residue. Or from what they used to make the mortar out of, or had a heart attack hauling ladders up a 200 ft smoke stack. Completely destroyed their body so they couldn't walk anymore after 60. But yeah let's look up to these men. I get it it's interesting seeing how it used to be done back before the technology existed to do it a different way, but it exists now. And people like this were part of the problem, slaving away risking your life so somebody else can make money. They didn't even pay him that damn much. Harnesses existed at that time, I know everybody laughs at all the safety Sally's out there, but the first time you fall, and a harness saves your life, you will wear one every time you leave the ground after that. Ask me how I know.
Like I get that it gets kinda ridiculous but nobody should ever forget every single one of those safety rules is written in blood
@mikeprimm4077 Well said. I used to be a decorator, much safer, but still found myself up three storeys on an extension ladder with no-one footing it-all because I didn't want to be called a soft shite. Even from that height, one slip or the ladder sliding and I'd have been fucked, all for an apprenticeship wage. I have all the respect in the world for the mettle and bravery the likes of Fred showed but that doesn't mean I want it to be like that, again. Every day blokes were risking their lives on a daily basis, funnily enough I've found many were ex-soldiers, makes me wonder if they just get accustomed to the risk? Either way, I'm glad I worked in a safer trade at a safer time, much as I tip my hat to those who came before
@@mikeprimm4077 Ah yes, ignorant American. We respect Mr Dibnah in this country... even now he is no longer with us. Should we all laugh and disrespect 9/11? And we use Pound Stirling in the UK... not some cheap American Dollar.
@@robrob9250 The British have turned into a gutless shadow of themselves... and it is all thanks to people like you. The Americans are even worse.
'How to Ladder a Chimney"
Should say " how to have the biggest pair of balls and survive"
I have climbed scaffolding all my life, 50 years' worth, and I always considered, myself as the best, but this guy blows me away, he is king!!
I hear you. I’ve worked in lift shafts 20 floors high and I’m still in AWE. windy towers wet greasy bricks. Some even enamelled.
This is Impressive but watch Alain Robert
No he is not king. The way he ladders a stack (chimney) is suicidle. I'm surprised he survived. One of those dogs comes out and hes had it. In Nottingham it would not be allowed. Four dogs per ladder. Two at the top....3 rungs down and two at the bottom .. 3 rungs from the bottom. Non of this lashing the ladders together horses......either.😅😅😅😅😅😅
@@christiansfortruth5953 in many 3rd world countries they Work Like this today
@@borntoclimb7116 Alex Honnold is even more impressive.
Every time I watch Fred, I can't help but think: "a working class hero is something to be"
Well said.
But lot of deaths in the past and the Most peoples dont want this fact.
@@borntoclimb7116 It's like the fact that a hundred corpses are inside the Hoover Dam. Working class people died to build the civilization we take for granted today. God bless those men.
@@13donstalos million peoples are stil working but the peoples just care about these climbing working guys. The average work on farms, as a trucker or in the food supply or on construction sites for our roads and Infrastruktur. Sounds boring but these jobs are way more important than steeplejack
@@borntoclimb7116 True but Fred encapsulates working class vibes like none other
Top man, skilled, brave, industrious, and completely unaffected. Makes me proud to be Lancastrian.
I could watch Fred all day. This is remarkable!!!
What happened to this country,,why has this type of Man disappeared. There should be a monument to this Great man.
Probably cause there's no more chimneys to bring down cause he got them all! 😂
But yeah Mr Dibnah was a hell of a bloke, learned a lot about steam engines because of his documentaries.
More important stuff like electricians, plumbers or workers on the road fixing our infrastructure.
I'm a steel erector,welder and fabricator we are here man we just need Hella load more tickets for stuff these days like watching Fred and comparing it to my training is insane , today this man would be taken off the site before he even walked on it and then it would take like month more to make it safe and another month to bring it down ,like safety has definitely improved but for Fred it was shear experience and this what makes it extremely impressive. Like no way in hell would I ever do what Fred does like it's walk in park .
@@bbjjfslipk6552 Did you know, fred dibnah collect pictures from death steeplejacks, maybe all the deaths are the reason for safety in the western world
Answer: thatcher
I'm getting sweaty hands watching this. Jesus. What a guy.
Love watching these old episodes what a brave man it takes a very special kind of man to do this kinda work this used to be great TV not like today's reality TV with is a load of rubbish
haha "that's where the beer belly comes in handy". what a man
I love this it needs more views, I didn't realise he just hooks his leg round the ladder the bloke was absolutely fearless its quite heart stopping watching him climb higher & higher & just tapping in a dog I wonder if its where the phrase '' top dog'' comes from?
No top dog refers to sawing wood in the old days. basically would place a board across a pit two man saw one in the pit one on top. bottom was a s*** job. guy on top was top dog. I think there's a video with Fred explaining it
Legend. Absolute legend! ⭐️
All I can say is LEGEND !! 🙃
Every time I watch this man work his mastery, the palms of my hands and feet begin to profusely sweat.
Wow. I would have loved to hang out with this guy and listen to his stories for hours. Shoutout to the BBC crew filming from the lift. Did you see it swaying in the wind? Wow!
Good auld Fred doing what he done best i do miss watching him and i can mind back tae the first time i watched him still excites me and am forty this year .
One of my heroes. Cut from different cloth.
Absolute legend of a man.
Stumbled across this. Glad I did - fascinating…
Did you happen to notice the other Fred Dibnah videos we have too.
I've seen this many times but it's still better than any of the crap today 🥰 thanks for sharing 👊
Crazy what he did and how he did it.
Great video!
This bloke was seriously mental. No sane person would this. Amazing guy.
He never had a fall, which shows he maintained full competency at staying logical and mindful in an environment that would leave 99% of people petrified and frozen in fear.
I've done quite a bit of high work, and know how heights can play games with the mind of an otherwise sensible person. But I've never done anything like Dibnah or other steepejacks. They're the major league conquerors of precarious heights.
Another great video
I feel safe when Fred is on the ground! Mind you, thumbs up to the lads who built the chimney in the first place.
My palms were sweating when he put the first ladder up. Then he told us how exciting it is when the wind is blowing and he is 3/4 of the way up the chimney. I would rather be shot at dawn than put those ladders up the side of a 200 foot chimney. What a man Fred was.
What a brave hero,unbelievable bloke.
He is so confident doesn't cost him a thought a real professional.
I love the way he says it's quite safe lol
This was the first series of anything i watched on TH-cam. It's really good. Better than 90% of subscriber based video channels. Where is his microphone for the top ladders ? On his jacket lapel ?
Fred was on a whole different level of been Brave, he made that look so easy , I’d have had to change my pants after the second ladder
I get vertigo sitting on the sofa just watching this😂
A great video. A message to all of the disrespectful commenters on this page. If you have not got anything good to say about Mr Dibnah and his wonderful abilities... then find something else to watch. FFS, it is not difficult.
Ena Mill in Atherton . I lived a minute from here and it's all still there .
4:57 both his hands pulling the rope towards his body, leaning back, on a ladder step 10+ feet in the air. What a life.
This guy is a legend
Massive balls of British steel!
Ive had an incredibly shit couple of months in life just everything battered me from all sides and its been just horrible. My only bit of calm is Freds videos...cheers Fred.
Hope things are better m8 keep going things will get better
@@RyanBartley-ro4vx 👊😉
He’s a national hero
Incredible that his knees held up all those years up and down those ladders.
A national treasure
I know exactly what it takes to do this job. I have a 2 step - stool in my kitchen to reach my top cabinet. You have to be careful that high up, any breeze will knock you down!
I myself have a three step and it's terrifying..
The heart and arms of a Lion!!
Well done.
Its amazing the whole thing is held steady by the one guy on the ground
The guy on the ground is probably most at risk from Fred dropping something. I remember working on a project and we were up high and took our hard hats off and got old off by the project engineer. Thing was we didn’t really need them, nothing was going to fall on us. He on the other hand needed one in case we dropped something.
Health and safety feared Fred and just left him alone
hahahaha what a load of shite, there was no health & safety
15:37 they have a man lift above him while he is hammering ladders in with no harness.... the 80s was a hell of a time.
Legend!
I wonder how Fred laddered the 2 overhangs on India Mill Chimney, Darwen.
I get vertigo just watching him climb those ladders 😂
Old Fred must have been quite physically fit to do this day in day out.
How can Fred get up them ladders with bollicks that big
PURE BALLS!
The videos are better without music
Legend
What a man
When the winds trying to snap the ladder off sideways, it can be quite exciting!!! No Fred, no - that's shit scary is what that is. It's unreal to think this wasn't actually that long ago!
The hard workers like Fred are still about, just have far more red tape in place these days to do the job - as an office mug I don't profess to be one, but certainly admire them!
When a actual sales man comes to give you a quote
Wonder how many times he has hit his hand with that hammer
Hero of mine they don’t make men like this anymore in any shape or form!
I’m shitting myself watching it😱
How did he manage to live so long?
Are the ladders timber?
Yes
Bloody crazy 😧😧
For a man that did this so many times, it’s incredible he never once had a serious accident in his career. Well, except getting married, that was a tragedy he’d say. 😕
2lb hammer a Cold chisel few bits of wood. IRON hook stays. Two per ladder. Etc. this I what built bridges railways etc etc. simple cheap reliable 🙏
When your only 3/4 up, and the wind try to schnap the ladder sideways, urhm thats quite exciting! - Fred Dibnah -
I'm stunned. Great famous man. However, I was a steeple Jack in the mid 1980's in Nottingham. We did lightning rods, top offs, pointing up in a bosons chair. Painting cooling towers. I never was involved with bringing a complete stack down. I would start with the first ladder. Two dogs. One each side. Not just one. In the middle. They were placed about four rungs from the bottom. Four rungs from the top you had the same. We had 18 inch metal rods that connected to thr ladder in the predetermined place. We hit in the first bottom two dogs and place the ladder upright and put the right angled hook into the hole that is in the dog. I then climb the ladder half way and put in the next two dogs at the top of this first ladder. I then climb to he top and put my leg through a ru g and hook my foot to the ring below. I then put in the two bottom dogs for the next ladder the next ladder will fit into a metal bracket on the top of both staves of each ladder. The ladders go end to end. Not half way lashed and over and over again. We dont have pullies. The number two guy puts his arm through the next ladder and climbs the first ladder. I am sitting right on the top of the first ladder. I take hold of his ladder and ax he continues to climb. I place the staves into the metal brackets and place the two metal rods into the holes of the bottom dogs. He goes down the ladder. I go up the second ladder to the middle. Hook my leg around the ring like before and put in the top dogs for this second ladder. And ar continue to the top. Perfectly safe, especially with four dogs per ladder ... not two. No roping off.. No wasting half the ladder length making it twice as long to erect. I respect Fred. But in Nottingham there is no company....not even Blackburn and Starling who would have employed him. Respects. 😊😊😊😊😊
Fred was on another level.
Way braver than most people especially today could u imagine grandad telling you at 15 today where pointing that chimney at the top ...shit myself and definitely not going up that ladder hanging on to nothing serious man FRED HES A PROPPER TRAIDSMAN OF MANY TALENTS ..RIP MY FRIEND ❤
I would hit my hand holding the spike soooooooo many damn times. 🥺 Mad props to Fred! 👍🍻
Would it be possible for the chimney owner have ladders fixed full time
Modern materials yes, when these monsters were built not a chance they would be usable and safe.
The days when a man was a real man and no this crap weve got in this country now . R.i.p fred
Ena Mill is across the road from me I’ve seen Fred here.
The camera man in the skylift probally shitting his pants.and then there is. Fred just sitting on his ladder explaning hisnwork
Fred dibna was a national treasure. But also, you're seeing a lost art. And a batshit crazy man lol it's insane the things people do for money. There's a man lift right there, that he could rent, inspect the whole chimney in one day. Instead of spending hours and hours lugging ladders around and risking your life for a rotten smoke stack. Like I get that's how he had to do it back in the day, but things evolve. The technology to do it quickly and safely, and cheaply is literally 6 ft away from him, filming him doing it the old way.
sounds easy the way you're thinking about it but...when did this platform lift (used by the BBC) first become available?...how much was it to rent out?...what might this probable massive additional cost have meant to the upkeep of that chimney (platform lifts at that height not usable at wind speeds above a mild breeze, how do you factor that into the 'Job price') at a time the stack wasn't listed...owner would have pulled it down (maybe using Fred but if you've watched his other episodes that's a one off Job and not that lucrative as he's competing against dynamite demolition teams...Fred's steeple jacking method enabled stack owners to preserve them & Fred to earn a living. These days plenty of lifts about & chimneys listed so pricing calculus is different.
Brilliant 👏🏻 ow hes just avin a chat while up there
I don't know how anyone could do this job and live long
my question is How many ladders did Fred own? and did they all go on that Land Rover defender ??
Until 1986, Fred owned all of the ladders in the North of England.
rest well brave man
God bless the lift equipmentzzzz
This guy has balls the size of watermelons, im absolutely terrified of heights, so seeing this man climb up the side of this chimney with just rope, twine, and ladders is scary as shit. No tie offs, no osha, just a good time had by all lmao.
4:57 no big deal just two hands off the ladder pulling on the rope towards your body 10+ feet in the air. Balls of steel.
Very impressive!! A man's man!! Another amazing video all about toughness and grit can be found if you search "The Last Cape Horners" . Give it a look. REAL MEN like Fred !! These types of videos should be standard viewing in schools. Show the kids just how easy life is today as compared to yesteryear.
Now here's a man who knows how to handle a hammer.
I'll buy you a gallon of Guinness when we meet again mr d hope,
all family are well god rest you my mate
After repairing my sloping roof, with sweat on my buttocks from the fright, I thought I was king.
But compared to him it was only Doom level 0.1, he is at level 1000
All the time Fred's knocking his pipe out climbing up and fixing those ladders, the cameraman is nice and comfy in a giant cherry picker - and he didn't even offer to lend a hand!!
You can have Spider-Man. I’ll have Fred…
Never be another like Fred. The guys in the lift are like..quit rocking, dont move
As a urban climber i love those old videos but climbing a ladder isnt difficult. The work on the chimney is Impressive.
In india many workers are work on the big Steelbridge in Kalkutta without even a ladder, they climb the steelstructures, true lattice Climbing.
Urban climbing is showing off by twats who have swollen egos. If you do not like this video then why comment and be disrespectful? Shall we discuss WWII and the gas chambers?
Why didn't they leave the dogs in permanently?
The plug wood holding them in would rot. And he could use them again on the next chimney.
Wait…if they have a crane…why the ladders?
Fooooooking hell. Sod that, get dizzy watching him do it . Balls of steal to go that high, health and safety would have a field day today
Fred makes me want to be a stronger man
With the crane that high, why not use it 😮
This is one of the scariest videos on UTube.
I just watched an episode before this about Fred, and I just thought to myself my god he trusts them ladders , now I realise it's because he erected them himself ..
Impressive, but I don't understand why they don't just leave the dogs installed in the chimney...
He’s got some massive balls
I would be expensive if i was a steeple jack i woukd want danger money 😂