2011 Firefighter Stair Climb

D

DaveS

New member
A very few C-Brats were aware that I have been preparing myself to participate in the 2011 Firefighter Stair Climb to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in their fight against blood cancers.
This is a climb by (about 1500) Firefighters up the stairs of the Columbia Center Tower in Seattle (which is the 2nd tallest building west of the Mississippi). All Firefighters are dressed in full firefighting combat gear, with mask and breathing air from the bottles on their backs.
Over the years I've considered accepting the challenge of the climb but hadn't done it. Since I've decided to retire at the end of August this year, I figured that this was the last year that I could participate.
That being said, today at the age of 66 ( I will be 67 in April), I successfully completed the stair climb in a fairly respectable 23:42 minutes.

(P.S. I know this doesn't have anything to do with C-Dorys, but I did see quite a few boats on Elliot Bay from the top of the Columbia Tower and I wanted to share this with my C-Brat family).
 
Good going Dave! That is something to be proud of, along with a whole bunch of other things in your life. I'm proud to count you as a friend.
 
DaveS":3u01qemj said:
All Firefighters are dressed in full firefighting combat gear, with mask and breathing air from the bottles on their backs.
Click to expand...

Impressive enough with just the stairs, but that is crazy with full firefighting gear. Nice work!
 
Good work Dave - that's about a 765' vertical climb. Once your retired, you can still come back and do the climb again - just not in full gear. The "civilians" do the same climb on March 20th (entries already sold out for this year). To put your time in perspective, in the civilian race- "the average participant takes from 25 to 40 minutes to finish". That's all ages most a good bit younger than you AND they don't carry 60lbs of gear up the stairs. So your time with gear is on the fast side of the average time for those w/o gear and the average age of the civilian climber is around 30-ish. Nice work!
 
Nice, Dave! Congrats....You have my respect.

I always describe you to other people who dont' know you as "this stud 60ish firefighter...the guy's a beast...I should be in such shape at that age..."....seriously, I do. Ask M.
 
Congrats Dave,

I need oxygen just going up in the elevator(s) at that place :shock:

I keep playing the TV shots looking for you. You would have made a great scoop for a special exclusive interview where you could have put in a "plug" for C-Dories, Special Baptisms and the healthy C-Brat way of life. etc etc.

Merv
 
Dave, Chief Rowe of the S (Snoqualmie not Seattle) FD says our younger fire fighters did not achieve your time...an inspiration to all us old guys!
 
Thanks guys. "Rogerbum" unbeknownst to him has been an inspiration to me as over the past year and a half he's been training and doing marathons.
Some of you don't know that beside the two cardiac stents I received in December of '09, I had another slight cardiac event in January of this year so I was off training for a week.
When I got to the top yesterday, I held up a sign that says "Coronary Stents By Dr. Chepuri". One of my partners then snapped a photo of me with the sign and I'll give the photo to the good doctor. Previously, I told him I was doing the climb and that I'd have the sign on my tank, and if I didn't make it, my buddies would tear the sign off.....LOL.
As some of you know, our "times" on the climb includes a "bottle change" on the 40th floor of the tower.

This morning I received BAD NEWS...I'm going to have to work FOUR MORE YEARS because there was one other guy in the "65 Plus" category....he is 69 and from Vashon Fire.....Not only is he older than me, he beat me by a couple of minutes!

For anyone interested, you can google the stairclimb and find "you tube videos" of previous climbs when firefighters had helmet mounted cameras.

(The last time I was at the top of the Columbia Tower was in 1999 when I rappeled off the top of the Columbia Tower during a technical rescue training drill).

As you all know Emergency Medical Services and the Fire Service has been extremely good to me over my 35 years. Had it not for being involved in this very rewarding profession, I would most likely not be in the shape I'm in. When seeing VERY SICK people on a daily basis, you can't help but paying attention to your own life style choices.
 
You old goat...yer' my hero. Without getting all mushy and man-huggy, you've been a real inspiration to me over the last 6 months. Actually, it's been for longer than that...but that was when my transformation attempts started.

I mentioned a while back, I'd gone on a diet of sorts. Well...35 pounds are history. However, much more than weight loss was in the back of my mind the whole time. Several times a week, I'd think of this old fireman dude that was in far better shape than I've been in since high school.

During the diet/eating retraining period, all I did was walk. And walk. And walk. But, once the weight was gone...my "be like Fireman Dave" syndrome kicked into high gear. Bored with walking one day, I started to jog - something I swore I would never do. That was two months ago, and I'm running 3-5 miles a day, 3-4 times a week. Not content to have some lung capacity and leg strength back, I started in with the pushup routine when the running started...the goal being 100 straight, something I hope to achieve in the next month or so. Started out collapsing after 15...I hit 50 a couple weeks ago.

Maybe, just maybe - you can suit me up with 60 pounds of gear at B'ham this year, and we can try some stair climbing...just so you can show me how much farther I have to go. :mrgreen:

Hat's off to you, ol' pal - keep kicking those youngsters' butts.
 
Dave, Way to go! You are truly an inspiration to us all. Look how you have impacted Bill, and that was before you did the stair climb!

I couldn't come DOWN the stairs that fast!

Robbi
 
DaveS":pk2fhw19 said:
Thanks guys. "Rogerbum" unbeknownst to him has been an inspiration to me as over the past year and a half he's been training and doing marathons. <stuff clipped>
Click to expand...

Da Nag":pk2fhw19 said:
You old goat...yer' my hero. Without getting all mushy and man-huggy, you've been a real inspiration to me over the last 6 months. Actually, it's been for longer than that...but that was when my transformation attempts started.
Click to expand...

Pat Anderson":pk2fhw19 said:
Dave, Chief Rowe of the S (Snoqualmie not Seattle) FD says our younger fire fighters did not achieve your time...an inspiration to all us old guys!
Click to expand...
etc., etc.

I have to admit I was tickled to see that mentioning that I was an inspiration to him but I think the reverse is true in that DAVE appears to inspire many more people. However, I think the best thing about this thread (and others) is that we can ALL INSPIRE EACH OTHER. As I've mentioned before, there's research that shows happiness and many behaviors are "contagious". So if many people here start to exercise more an eat better AND we talk about it (either online or in person), we are secretly spreading this to others in the group. If enough people do it, eventually the entire group will benefit.
 
Roger,
Perhaps at all future C-Brat Gatherings we should have all participants "fall out" on the dock at 0-Dark Hundred Hours for an hour of physical training, a brisk 3 to 15 mile run and include a few tall building staircases to climb. :mrgreen:

Since, DaNag and Starcraftom have been running now they can help lead the run.

Another Inspirational C-Brat that many don't know much about is Jim States of the C-Dory vessel "Endurance". If my "old geezer" memory serves me right, he is a veteran climber of Mt. Everest. Now THAT is a climb that takes a lot of preperation and endurance!
 
Dave Congrats on the climb.

I inspected construction of the tower-- and was back again for retrofit--- after all of the law offices on the upper floors overloaded the structure with their libraries. The center columns had to be reinforced, and all libraries were relocated to the lower floors.

I walked iron as it was installed- you wouldn't believe how much sway there is on top during a good wind. :shock:
 
Back
Top