If so, how would you rate the experience and what advice would you pass on to the next guy?

Let me know, There's a few McDonald's propaganda billboards I would like to deface in my area.

Well considering they are meant to be big, bright, and very visible, climbing one would probably result be being seen.

Posted by sleeperspirit Let me know, There's a few McDonald's propaganda billboards I would like to deface in my area.

Not McD's, but there's one I wuv to nail, lol.
That said most aren't that high and are meant to be seen although the backside may be doable will stealth. There are many different kinds, some you need a cherry picker or climbing gear to mount them.

Personally I take a high voltage transmission line tower over most any billboard any day. They have their own risks though.

Water tanks are becoming harder to climb with each passing decade. Besides security on many of the active ones you have various antenna farms on them to deal with. Water tanks use to be so easy. You could go swimming in some...

Posted by Tomtortoise Well considering they are meant to be big, bright, and very visible, climbing one would probably result be being seen.

Plus, once you get up there, you're still just on a billboard wondering why you've made the life choices you have...

Hm... Better Call Saul anyone? XD

Posted by rayfang2000 Hm... Better Call Saul anyone? XD

Beat me to it. I was about to just simple write. "Better Call Saul"

Actually yes. And on a not totally unrelated note fuck bees.

I’d recommend the following general tips, in no particular order:

• Most in denser cities are mounted on the rooftops of lowrises adjacent to highways – for these, it is usually sufficient to get on the roof and then access to the billboard is easy
  
• In rural areas or suburbs, billboards tend to be mounted on the ground. They will have some relatively tall, featureless pillars, a ladder will start somewhere up the pillar, and then it will take you to the top. You’ll generally have to climb the bare pole, or use a rope or a moveable ladder to get up to these
  
• They will have a ladder along one or both sides, which will take you up to the many catwalks behind the sign
  
• For most of the larger boards I’ve encountered, every 7 or 8 feet up there’s a catwalk along the back. There is always one at the top, behind the sign; and there is always one at the bottom of the sign on the front side.
  
• Around the ladders and catwalks, there are all sorts of very climbable supports; see here for a neat cross-section of a billboard in demolition, and the sort of thing you’d find on it: https://www.instagram.com/p/BBhuBb6SQ3N/ (photocredit to Darthbindy)
  
• You’re generally ok about not being seen if you stay on the back of the sign
  
• There will be straps on all sides of the sign holding it on and taut. They are not meant to hold your weight.
  
• Be careful about what you bring - if caught, the first suspicion is that you're trying to cause damage (billboards are particularly a prime target for taggers)
  
• Billboards are rarely owned by the same person as the property they're on. So getting permission for one is not permission for the other
  

Posted by sleeperspirit Let me know, There's a few McDonald's propaganda billboards I would like to deface in my area.

Chapter 8 of this may help ya: http://theanarchis...onkeywrenching.pdf

I've climbed a few, but only because i was drunk, and i had nothing better to climb. Standard ones are nothing that special..

Yeah, the ones I climbed were kind of back roadsy-type where I could just chill, watch cars pass without them seeing me.

A nice setting if you are looking to get away from it all.

Thanks for the feedback, guys, lots of good info.

The ones I've climbed had timber framing on the backs of them which made nice ladders. It was a bit of a laugh, and I did it only because I was running out of places to climb in my little city.

Yeah, but it really wasn't anything special. I've climbed cooler things and I've climbed higher things. (Smoke stacks, Water Towers, Cell towers)

I've done tons of billboards, and I've generally found that most of the smaller ones aren't really worth it, as you stand out more, and the view isn't really that great.
As already stated, most billboards will either have a locked door that covers the ladder/cage, or the ladder will only begin 10-20 feet up. For either of these, it is usually very easy to either climb up the outside of the cage if it's blocked, or climb to the bottom of the ladder.
The billboards I'd most recommend, are those ones you see on the side of large highways sometimes, as they are usually very tall, very easy to get onto (normally in back lots of factories and such, so little to no security), and the chances of being seen are very low.
I'd definitely recommend trying it, just watch out for cameras.

Bindy - that was my thoguht as well. I've toyed with the idea of taking some time lapse shots of the highway from a billboard for a while now.

I climbed one once, it was fun, but in broad daylight and right downtown I was more than a little nervous about getting called in by neighbours. We only stuck around for a few minutes. Would be much more chill at night.

there was a billboard on the roof of this old building, does that count? ;)
p.s. it's an old pic.



1.

Posted by Tomtortoise Well considering they are meant to be big, bright, and very visible, climbing one would probably result be being seen.

Wear a yellow/orange security vest and maybe even a hard hat. The trick is to look like you belong ;)

Posted by terapr0 I climbed one once, it was fun, but in broad daylight and right downtown I was more than a little nervous about getting called in by neighbours. We only stuck around for a few minutes. Would be much more chill at night.

That -is- cool. Not what I was thinking of, lol.