“Dancers” on 100-meter-high power lines in central Yunnan

It is terrifying for most us to walk on lines of 100 meters high, even when we watch someone do it. But for Zhu Yuehui and his colleagues, who are electric workers, walking on power lines is their daily routine. With nerves of steel, the workers are described as “dancers in the air”.

Recently, Zhu and his colleagues just completed the checking of a section of the newly constructed 500 KV Longhai-Luquan power transmission line, which is a subproject of the power transmission project of Wudongde Hydropower Station.

The section they checked stretches 17.55 kilometers and includes 19 power transmission towers of each more than 100 meters high. It cost them 50 minutes for climbing up and getting down the towers each time, so they spent six hours a day on the towers and lines.

Each day, they started climbing up the towers at 9:00 a.m. and getting down at 4:00 p.m. They wore out trousers and gloves because of friction with power lines.

 “The first time, I was half excited and half afraid. The moment when I stepped my foot on the transmission line, I felt even my heart was trembling and dared not to look down though we had security measures, “recalled Zhu Yuehui, adding that after the experience in the first day, he even could run on the lines the next day.

(Text and photo by Zhang Wen, Zhao Xinping, Gao Feng and Liu Yanjiao)