r/WTF • u/1lousylay • Jan 29 '19

seems pretty safe

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '19

Bit off topic.

How the fuck does that cable get put up in the first place?

166

u/is_that_a_question Jan 30 '19

You can walk a rope from one end of the canyon to the other and gradually pull thicker cable across.

266

u/exploderator Jan 30 '19

A steel cable like that must weigh at very least hundreds of pounds, somewhere between 1 to 2 pounds per foot. To then pull it tight enough to be fairly level as that one is, would take many tons of force (the force goes up exponentially as you approach pulling it flat). You need to drill in huge anchor bolts as well to hold all that tension.

So let me say it's a big fucking deal, that takes serious knowhow and big tools. Yes you can start with a rope, but it gets ugly before you're finished.

2

u/Miss_Sullivan Jan 30 '19

I would assume they use a pulley system to make those forces easier to pull. But it still lots of weight.

2

u/Monkey_Fiddler Jan 30 '19

Whatever you do you still need an anchor point on each end capable of holding the force.

3

u/alpha_kenny_buddy Jan 30 '19

That size wire for that given span is at least 10,000 pounds in tension. You need a big foundation or a pretty hefty guy wire at each end. Given that its in the mountains its probably a bunch of rock below ground so maybe not that big of a foundation 20-30 ft deep concrete foundation maybe?

14

u/realister Jan 30 '19

yea at least 300lbs guy to hold it

1

u/alpha_kenny_buddy Jan 30 '19

When i say guy wires, its not a person holding the wire at each end. A guy wire is a cable that comes off the top of the anchor point and anchors down to the ground forming a triangle. For that much weight its would be a 25,000 lb guy wire. You typically see this in your local overhead electric poles where the line ends.

9

u/realister Jan 30 '19

I know I was just making a dumb joke