The Errant Æsthete

Here’s a high octane past time to put the dare devil back in you. The Seattle Space Needle is getting its first ever deep cleaning, since opening for the 1962 World’s Fair. Crews are pressure washing the 605-foot high Space Needle from top to bottom.

Three daring high angle cleaners hit the Needle with water that measured precisely 194 degrees. Even though the sprayers use half the flow of a garden hose, the water shoots out at 3,000 pounds per square inch — more than enough power to send the guy behind the hose flying. “One thing we say is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be fun to be fun. There are definitely times when I’m spinning in free space and I’m like, holy cow this is terrifying and I can’t believe this is my job,” said Matt Henry, rope technician.

The company doing the work, Karcher GmbH & Co., has done similar high-profile jobs around the world, all at no cost…their web site says that these projects are good publicity for their cleaning products. A sampling of some other projects they’ve done (impressive roster), including the Statue of Liberty and Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.[via link]