Morse Urbex: Climbs

Showing posts with label Climbs. Show all posts

Monday

Saltley Gasometer

Despite Manchester's large number of gasholders, it took a trip to Birmingham for my first climb to the top of one of those remarkable structures. Originally built to store gas in urban areas, they are now mostly decomissioned, with few still used for balancing out fluctuations in the network's pressure.

London II - 20 Fenchurch Street TC

The next morning we got woken up by some cyclists shouting as they passed our car. Maybe we should have parked off the road, but it was too late now, 3 hours of recovery it was gonna be. Whilst packing the sleeping bags away and stretching our legs that had been crammed between seats and bags all night, we discussed possible destinations for the day.

Pepsi Max, Blackpool Pleasure beach

The rain had only just stopped as we left the car and made our way towards Blackpool Pleasure beach. The main gate looked inviting, but it was not the point of access for that night. A few minutes later, and thanks to the detailed park's children map downloaded to the phone, we reached the first rollercoaster. Some of the rides were still plugged in, spreading noises through the dark grounds.

Bucyrus Erie Drag Line, St. Aidans Open Cast Mine

The Bucyrus Erie Drag Line, aka the Odd Ball, is a 1200 tonne dragline excavator which was built in 1948 in america. After four years of operation it was moved to the UK where it got relocated another four times, until it was finally decomissioned in 1983 at the St. Aidans Open Cast Mine.

Lowry Bridge, Salford

So finally I'm back in Manchester again. I arrived late in the afternoon, stashed the stuff at my place and quickly went out to meet nckt and Jim Gillette. At first sight not much had changed in the city. The same cranes were still standing and the same rooftops were still in view. We were gonna start off with some easy rooftops, but i quickly realised that Manchester had changed during my time away. Every rooftop we attempted turned into a fail due to various reasons. After a number of attempts we gave up and just walked around looking for new things to be attempted in the future.

A few days later and we met up again with a number of places on the list. The initially planned climb for that evening was placed on the waiting list (but will hopefully be done soon) for one that could only be done that night. We arrived in Trafford where a massive stage had just been build for a gig of muse. The frame looked amazing for climbing purposes. Sadly though security was very tight and started following us around after a few minutes of looking for a way in.

We decided to call this place off and instead move on to our final destination, the Lowry bridge in Salford. Its probably the most climbed structure in Manchester but for some reasons i had never managed to get around to scaling its top. It was built in 2000 as part of the redevelopment of Salford Quays and has a lenght of 95 metres and as a lift bridge a maximum height of 18 metres to allow enough space for big boats.

The climb itself was fairly unspectacular. A nice view awaited us at the top. We took some pictures and i once again realised that i have to buy a new tripod very soon. On the way down some Chinese tourists passed by wondering what three guys were doing half way up the tower of the bridge.

By the time we got down it was half past midnight. This meant we had just missed our last metro back into town. An hour later, having walked through some rough areas of Manchester and getting weird looks of a police car driving past us twice on a dual carriage way, we got back into town and finished the night in a chippy.

courtesy of Jim Gillette

Monday

Angels can be climbed...

"This sculpture is classed as a building. You wouldn't climb an office building just to take some pictures from the rooftop, would you? So why would you climb the angel of the north"
The inspector looked at us with a serious face. It was hard not to laugh! Why? I think the answer is obvious...

The 410 mile trip started in Manchester at around midnight. I had wanted to do this climb so badly since i first heard about urban exploring. It was the climb i had been dreaming of so often, the Angel of the North, a steel sculpture, 20 meter tall, wings of 54 meter width, designed by Antony Gormley.

Due to a temporary speed limit of 50 on most parts of the motorway we arrived at the angel just as the sun was starting to rise. We knew we only had a limited amount of time before it would be to light so we worked as quickly as possible.

By the time scott had reached the top, the daylight had arrived. If drivers on the motorway or residents near by would look up, they would see the silhouette of a person standing on the giant wing.
As half of us were up, many locals had gathered around, some drunk, some amazed, some scared and others angry, but all of them were interested in what was happpening.

We had no time to loose, i was the last one to climb. Half way up and i froze. Police had just arrived. I was so close from reaching the top. But fate had decided that i was not to reach the top, I had to retreat.

After a nice chat with the two officers about the reasons why we were climbing man build structures, we found out that a lorry driver had seen us and thought we were gonna jump.

©Yaz

The disappointing outcome of the climb however was not gonna stop us from having an awesome weekend.
After a quick sleep and a short visit to the sea we headed to Thornaby Traction Maintenance Depot.

But the luck was not on our side. After ten minutes i heard scott running. BTP had seen us. If we got caught a 1000 pound fine would probably not be avoidable.

We had to hide whilst we could hear the officers sneaking around trying to find us. We were lucky. After half an hour we run of the site and managed to get out.

A few more stops later, including a slacklining session at a service station and an unplanned run onto a stadium rooftop we headed back to Manchester.

Shouts to userscott, yaz and luke for an amazing weekend!

Sunday

Gateway climb

A few weeks ago, on the way back from castle mill, oldham, we stopped by at this structure after wondering what it was from the bus.

Sarah Crane, Manchester

The highest crane in Manchester at that time. I had looked at it so many times but security was always present.
Then i was told by Nckt that it was gonna go down soon so R Fizzle and me headed up.
It was taken down the next day!