just a thought

[asajosh]

when you go for a walk sometime, look at the power lines in the city your in, notice that there thick and connect to everything?

My DR GM decided to start us off about 2 months into it happening....my character used to do maintenance on power lines.
in fact he still carried his utility belt, harness and rigging gear. I ended up getting stuck in an old brick apartment building that i could barricade for a bit, but it was surrounded by slouchers . After exploring for a bit. it dawned on me; i wasnt stuck. About that same time the slouchers finally got into the building on the first floor.
I pushed every bit of furniture against the door, and climbed to the roof. there i hooked my rigging up to the Power line, and since the power was out through out the city, i pushed off and started moving along the lines, like they were zip lines.
(power lines can support up to 1000lbs btw)

From there i made it to a Bi-mart.
Which in Yakima,WA is a safe Haven. its got 2 doors, 1 window. and a big fence. Roof access indoor parking. Its got generators for back-up as well.

From my start point to Bi-mart is 12 blocks, or 1 mile. it took almost 2hrs to get there going this route, but the only problems i ran into was bird poop.

also, what i did here can be done if you have about 25ft of rope, or 6 average leather belts.

Interesting escape plan, but as a reliable means of transport I'm not so sure.
I think about the high tension lines that run near my own house, and it seems to me the connection point for the wire on the towers are at more or less equal height.
For a zip line to work, you have to start out at a higher point and zip down to a lower point, using gravity to pull you. Essentially your "falling" very horizontally. High tension lines have slack in them and, relying on gravity alone, you end up hanging in the middle.
If you strapped yourself in with a saftey harness, you could probably pull yourself along at a slow speed (1/3 Spd attribute). But while your high off the ground, the zombies could easily follow you along the wire to your next stop...

[Gamer]

I think the only way I'd do that as a "non emergency this is all I have on me means to escape" is if I had a zipline and had some ascension ascenders made for the lines, might get a little more speed going pulling yourself along, but I'd rather not do it at all.
It doesn't matter how much the line can hold if I cannot haul it up with me then pull it along and if you hurt yourself while out on an sortie you aren't going to have the ability to do this to get back.
You might end up Dead man hanging.
Have to take my hat off for serious creativity though, don't think would have thought about that as a means to go from one place to another.

[azazel1024]

Its creative for a quick escape, but I think every mentioned the problems with it (can't really use them as zip lines). Also, what about the power connections to a house/building. I haven't actually tried yanking on one, but they certainly don't look like they could handle 1,000lbs like a normal power pole line could. Most look like they'd likely break under the weight of an adult male, especially if they were packing a few extra pounds.

Could be a way to get away from some zombies by scaling up and then climbing over to the roof of a building if the connection line could take the weight.

One other thought, power might not be completely out. Hydro, wind and solar are still going to operate even if actual power plants are down. Even with low demand there is probably going to be test currents run down the lines here and there periodically, etc. Probably a bit like Russian roulet being on power lines, though safe enough so long as you aren't grabbing two lines at once.
-Matt

[Steeler49er]

Yeah Yakima! Washingtons only warm place

[Shawn Merrow]

Yeah Yakima! Washingtons only warm place

Remind me to throw something at you the next time its over a 100 in Pasco.

[azazel1024]

Mentioned over at the power, power, power thread, but hydro and wind won't sieze after just a month or two of no maintaince. They do need regular maintenance, but odds are good with none they would keep trucking for at least a year or two before any would start having problems or siezing up and some would last several years to even a decade or two before giving up the ghost.]
-Matt

[asajosh]

As i said in my first post though, my character worked for the power company. he had most of his gear from that still, as our GM wasnt allowing us to choose what OCC we were. based on game play and how the player used the stuff he had on him and around him determined the characters occ.

As to whether the power lines will hold you from a building to the pole.
It primarily depends on what the building is. the building i was stuck in was brick, so i didn't have much to worry about there. On wood, plaster, or newer houses, the Insulator connection bolt is drilled into the main portion of the houses' frame. weight support you be different.

The connection itself can support 200lbs per connector used, most old buildings around Yakima anyways, instead of replacing them, they just added another connector and ran the line through both. so on old building as the one i used this method to escape from it would work.

The line itself is high tension.

As for how i know the connection loop will hold at least 200lbs. in most hardware and feed stores you can buy them... though most times in feed stores there usually in the section for butchering out animals..... my family used them for hanging bags of grain and would use 4 to hang a 600lbe pig.

As for electricity in the line. Most power plants have to be maintained. even hydro and wind require maintenance. the require oil motors, and grease for the bearings. after a month or 2 of no maintenance the engines would seize and shut down.

I have yet to hear of any solar power plants in Washington.
The big problem is actually Hanford. Without a crew there, that place will blow.
The players im currently in this game with dont know this and my toon just strings wire, but we know that place is nearby.

If you have the means, I strongly suggest checking out a History Channel special called "Life After People" (now an on going series as well).

IIRC, they speculate that if all humans suddenly disappeared (among other things) power stations would continue to run for periods of time with out interferance.
Coal/Gas plants will run for up to a week before they begin to shut down, nuclear plants may go for a couple weeks maybe up to a month. Solar power will run untill the panels are too dirty or damaged or there is another equipment failure (same for wind power, those things have a ton of interdependant moving parts), perhaps for several months. The big winner is hydro power, the Hoover dam will light up the south west for possibly a decade with out humans to run it.

[CyCo]

Go find, and read Roofword by Christopher Fowler.

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