CdK's Blast Furnace

Type CountryDateOn the MapStatusRating
Factory
Factory		Germany
Germany		2009-08-08Where is it on the map???Active*****


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CdK's Blast Furnace - Click to enlarge!

The Other Blast Furnace...

2009.  A crisis is occuring.  Will this one be restarted or not?  The production tool is indeed in jeopardy. Although 14 European blast furnaces have been restarted this year, the news remains pessimistic.

Our hobby is ephemeral, with no certainty of what tomorrow will hold.  This permanent emergency, this "nothing ventured, nothing gained" feeling, brought us here, on a cold night of the end of summer, to climb the beast.

It's cold... for now.  Kilometers of conveyors take us closer to our target, little by little.  The temperature slowly rises.  As we reach the bottom of the furnace, we feel the hot breath of the beast.  It smokes, it snores, it lives.  It's not dead - only hibernating - and it does not want to die.

The ascent is difficult.  We crawl and climb between the tangles of pipes, avoiding the clouds of steam, the cameras, the workers. The Graal is well protected... but what an adventure!

The few workers are swarming - we've already made it so high up that they look like ants down there!

Each level reveals new treasures, perspectives and horizons.  Little by little, the monster unveils itself, moaning at our impertinence.

A little walk on the cowper stoves and then through fragile catwalks. Finally, we make it to the last spiral staircase; we climb to the mouth up there. The open metal flooring is not very inviting.  We will stop here for the night.

Then it is time to get down - feverishly, as usual.  Images in the mind, coal and dust everywhere else...

 

CdK's Blast Furnace - Click to enlarge!
R.I.P. CdK

 

The 15th September 2010...

This page is dedicated to the memory of Cédric, who left way too early.

Probably one of the best souvenirs of shared exploration: brainstormed, calculated, dreamed of, and then... accomplished!

Even if I often had to pull you by the legs to start, once you got going I hardly could stop you.

We wanted to climb them all.  We only missed one!  I hope you keep exploring up there...

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