Are you mad? Im not fucking climbing that!
In Kiev, with a posse of Diggers, we took a long walk through emergency water supply tunnels built under Stalin's reign. Kiev sits on a big hill next to the river, that's why it has such a deep Metro. This tunnel system was even deeper than the Metro. Designed to take emergency water from the river should the normal water supply be compromised, it was built, as far as i know in the 1930's and now sits abandoned.
Our five kilometre walk beneath the city was pretty amazing. The tunnels initial stretch contained two pipes with a walkway between.
The first shaft really showcased the decrepitude. The ladder system, climbing up what looked like at least 150 metres was utterly rotten, with collapsed debris all over the place. There was light beaming down from waaaay upon high.
The next stretch was larger still with a single pipe and looong sections where we waded through knee deep ground water. By this time id gotten round to asking 'Is there a way out at the end?' and i got a solid affirmative to that question, but eventually realised i should have worded my query differently.
After the third shaft, things got dryer and we encountered the Rollercoaster... two of them in fact, one of which i posted a photo and video of a few months back. This was the other one.
We reached the final shaft after almost two hours and nonchalantly, i climbed the initial staircase and stared upwards... Here, slowly, it dawned on me that id mis-phrased my question about the exit point. I really, lol, should have asked, 'Is there a non-suicidal way out at the end?'.
The shaft, though not as tall, (more like only 75 metres high) was, like its bigger siblings, without any recognisable ladder system. Said ladder system was so much gritty orange mush on the floor. Oxidation had won the battle long ago. So our way out... was to scale the waffled pattern of the shafts iron bulkheads, up through the gaps where the level gantries had fallen to the floor. Like a giant, rusty, flaking, bloating, soaked ladder.
I dont mind heights, rooftops, bridges etc. And i can get over a chainlink fence like a goddamn Olympic hurdler... but freeclimbing 75 metres up a rusted, crumbling iron shaft wall in steelcap boots, with a camera and tripod dangling off me and water dribbling into my face isnt something i consider myself capable of. To my mild embarrassment, everyone else there was capable of it, so while i walked 5 kilometres back (very kindly accompanied by Radovar, who like the others could've climbed the shaft) everyone else... climbed the shaft.
Our five kilometre walk beneath the city was pretty amazing. The tunnels initial stretch contained two pipes with a walkway between.
The first shaft really showcased the decrepitude. The ladder system, climbing up what looked like at least 150 metres was utterly rotten, with collapsed debris all over the place. There was light beaming down from waaaay upon high.
The next stretch was larger still with a single pipe and looong sections where we waded through knee deep ground water. By this time id gotten round to asking 'Is there a way out at the end?' and i got a solid affirmative to that question, but eventually realised i should have worded my query differently.
After the third shaft, things got dryer and we encountered the Rollercoaster... two of them in fact, one of which i posted a photo and video of a few months back. This was the other one.
We reached the final shaft after almost two hours and nonchalantly, i climbed the initial staircase and stared upwards... Here, slowly, it dawned on me that id mis-phrased my question about the exit point. I really, lol, should have asked, 'Is there a non-suicidal way out at the end?'.
The shaft, though not as tall, (more like only 75 metres high) was, like its bigger siblings, without any recognisable ladder system. Said ladder system was so much gritty orange mush on the floor. Oxidation had won the battle long ago. So our way out... was to scale the waffled pattern of the shafts iron bulkheads, up through the gaps where the level gantries had fallen to the floor. Like a giant, rusty, flaking, bloating, soaked ladder.
I dont mind heights, rooftops, bridges etc. And i can get over a chainlink fence like a goddamn Olympic hurdler... but freeclimbing 75 metres up a rusted, crumbling iron shaft wall in steelcap boots, with a camera and tripod dangling off me and water dribbling into my face isnt something i consider myself capable of. To my mild embarrassment, everyone else there was capable of it, so while i walked 5 kilometres back (very kindly accompanied by Radovar, who like the others could've climbed the shaft) everyone else... climbed the shaft.