Craning

Craning is a form of Urban exploration which specifically involves the scaling of cranes, guyed masts or other similar structures. The word "Craning " is sometimes spelled "Krayning" to overcome phonetic misinterpretations.

History

There is controversy surrounding the exact origins of Craning. One school of thought maintains that the sport branched from Urban Exploration in mid 2006 with a project named "Crane Day Crane Crane". Others contest that Craning formally began in December 2005 with "Operation: Grey Wall".

Evolution

The idiosyncrasy of the term "Craning" is demonstrated by two separate projects which reflected the diversity of Urban Explortion.

Crane Day Crane Crane

A major event in craning began when protestors climbed an un-manned crane in opposition to the development of apartment complexes in Nutgrove, Dublin. The name "Crane Day Crane Crane" arose when protestors were trying to decide on a pun to display on a banner they intended to drape from a crane, but were unable to think of a sufficiently amusing one. This is generally considered the first instance of Craning a base-controlled derrick crane.

Dangers

Stationary building cranes frequently have ladders, normally used to reach work areas, and may have other assistive structures to reach other parts of the crane. Use of these structures without proper knowledge can be dangerous.

Falling

Craners normally opt to climb without climbing equipment, exposing themselves to risk of death from falling. Sudden vertigo may also affect the climber, resulting in a fall. Whilst this is the most obvious risk there have been no recorded accidents of this nature associated with Craning.

Prosecution

Due to the inherent risk of climbing such elevated structures, potential Craning sites are normally off limits to the public. This presents the risk of prosecution for trespassing. There have been no recorded incidents of prosecution associated with Craning.

Electrocution

As all man-made structures are purpose built, they usually carry high voltage wires to provide for: transmitters; aircraft warning lights; crane motors; etc. Such wires present an obvious danger to inexperienced climbers, due to lack of maintenance and/or weathering of equipment. The chances of death by lightning while climbing are quite considerable, as structures like antennas can act like lightning rods, though a reasonable climber would begin a descent at the first sign of a storm. There have been no recorded accidents of this nature associated with Craning.

Weather

Due to the exposed nature of climbing free-standing structures, two aspects must be considered. Firstly, the height of the structure puts a lower limit on the time taken to climb any structure. This allows time for ambient weather conditions to change unfavourably very rapidly.Secondly, as one ascends, air temperature can drop and wind speed increases. Both present a danger as the climber may be unable to judge what weather conditions will develop.

Radiation

Radio and microwave transmitters are often placed on masts. While there are unconfirmed reports of negative health effects associated with living near radio and microwave transmitters, it is generally acknowledged that such close proximity (in the range of metres) and prolonged exposure to UHF, VHF and microwave transmitters can cause induction heating of metal apparel and may be carcinogenic.The effect of proximity on severity of exposure can be expressed as an inverse square law, where "I" denotes intensity of exposure per unit time:

:$I\; propto\; frac\{1\}\{r^2\}\; ,$

References in popular culture

* Craning featured prominently in the James Bond film "Casino Royale"

ee also

* Buildering
* Climbing
* Crane (machine)

External links

* [http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=655032002 Edinburgh Evening News article]