Climbing Chain Link Fences
I’m working on an ALTA of a parcel that adjoins a railroad, and there’s a wire-topped chain link fence along the entire length of the parcel that’s several feet into the property from the ROW line. Between improvement locations and monument setting I knew I was going to have to cross this fence multiple times in order to complete the work, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I did find a spot where the barbed wire had been mashed down to a single layer, so a stake bag on top of that would make getting over doable, but the prospect of scrabbling for footholds was still daunting. I figured there must be a better way.
My first thought was a ladder, but that really means two ladders, and that seemed like an unwieldy solution. I went online and found a few references to “tactical” climbing aids, which seemed like a reasonable compromise from a design perspective. But they’re pricey ($150-ish for a set of 3) and the shipping delay wouldn’t work with my schedule, so I took the basic design concept and implemented it in a material I already had on hand: rebar.
I took a couple of 30″ lengths of 5/8″ rebar, heated them with a torch and bent them into shape. The result is far from perfect, but it beat trying to get the toe of my boot into the the little holes in the fence fabric. And they’re small enough to leave in the truck until needed.
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