
Suspended jaccuzzi - henridf
http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc_264_e.html
======
easytiger
Are the side walls of the bridge specified to take directional load like that?

~~~
jacquesm
Spectacularly dumb idea to hang that much weight (6 Tons!?) from the top of
those walls. Those walls are clearly meant for vertical loads. And a much
better option (if you feel you have to do this) was available so I really
don't understand what made them choose this particular setup. Anybody with an
ounce of structural engineering knowledge would have looped the cables through
the drainage ports.

Right now this looks like a Darwin award candidate. They're _very_ lucky that
those walls contained enough rebar vertically to withstand this load, it's at
the worst possible attachment point and at the worst possible angle
(especially for the inner wall).

Edit: looking more closely at the picture it seems as though the cables under
tension are actually running through the drainage ports of the back wall, the
ropes at the top seem slack or loaded both top and bottom of the opposite so
there is in fact mostly compressive load on the front wall and about 50% of
sideways load on the opposing wall. Still, that structure was definitely not
meant to be loaded like this.

~~~
gambiting
Yeah, in this picture you can see the cables running through the drainage
port:
[http://jaccuzzi.ch/photos/700/1754_264_seb_7_.jpg](http://jaccuzzi.ch/photos/700/1754_264_seb_7_.jpg)

So I "think" most of the load would be applied vertically, but that would be
my biggest concern still.

~~~
onion2k
This image best shows how they did it -
[http://jaccuzzi.ch/photos/700/1758_264_seb_11_.jpg](http://jaccuzzi.ch/photos/700/1758_264_seb_11_.jpg)
\- they looped the ropes over the top of the sides on both sides, suspending
the platform directly under the bridge so there shouldn't have been any
sideways force.

Still seems a bit stupid to put that much additional load on a 70 year old
pedestrian bridge though.

~~~
mkuhn
This bridge was most likely not constructed as a pedestrian bridge. What you
see in the back probably is the bridge that replaced this one when a one way
bridge did not provide enough capacity anymore and the old bridge was re-
purposed as a passenger and probably cyclist bridge.

Based on that it was definitely built for higher load than just a few
pedestrians.

Edit: The German language Wikipedia article actually confirms this [1]. It
states that the bridge was built for a traffic load of 13 tons and that the
new bridge was built in 1993 to increase capacity. The old bridge was
thoroughly renovated after the new bridge had been constructed. The bridge
actually is well documented and is under protection as an architectural
landmark. It was exhibited in the MoMA for a long time.

Based on the amount of prep these guys put into this and the available
documentation I don't see why they should not have checked if what they wanted
to do is possible.

[1]
[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_de_Gueuroz](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_de_Gueuroz)

Edit 2: Some fascinating pictures from the time of construction:
[http://www.swiss-timber-bridges.ch/detail/193](http://www.swiss-timber-
bridges.ch/detail/193)

~~~
jacquesm
> NB: This bridge doesn't exist any more

That's weird. It definitely looks like it is the same bridge but that page
says it has been removed.

The construction clearly shows a concrete bridge in the making (lots of
concrete forms visible) whereas the heading of the page is 'Swiss timber
bridges'.

~~~
mkuhn
as far as i understand it the timber bridge was the temporary bridge used to
support the construction and then torn down after the concrete bridge was
completed.

~~~
jacquesm
Ah yes, it's labelled 'falsework', so the wooden structure is indeed just to
support the main structure until it can be self supporting.

------
folli
Their other project, jacuzzi on the Mont Blanc (highest summit of the alps) is
equally crazy:
[http://jaccuzzi.ch/index_e.html](http://jaccuzzi.ch/index_e.html)

20 sweaty alpinists in one tub :)

~~~
arethuza
I noticed the other people hanging about on the summit of Mont Blanc looking
slightly miffed - not sure if this is because they are unhappy at finding a
party on what they were expecting to be a peaceful mountain top or
disappointed that they aren't getting an invite to join in!

~~~
paganel
> not sure if this is because they are unhappy at finding a party on what they
> were expecting to be a peaceful mountain top o

I may sound like a hater, but I would certainly understand the frustration of
those having climbed Mont Blanc only to find a bunch of party-people in there
(if that really was the case for their looks).

And a serious question: How do these people have money and especially free
time for this?

Later edit: Before people start down-voting me, I found this comment of a guy
who was among the "other" people on the top of Mont Blanc (meaning he was not
invited to the jacuzzi party). He pretty much disapproves of it all, with
quite good reasons (text is in French):

> Me trouvant avec mes deux clients au sommet du Mt Blanc ce 13 septembre, je
> ne peut que vous faire part de notre consternation devant la débauche de
> bruit et d'agitation ridicule qui polluait l'endroit ce jour-là. Est-ce
> paraître pisse froid que de ne pas partager votre enthousiasme pour cette
> réalisation qui contribue à rabaisser un sommet majeur au rang d'exutoire de
> nos névroses et théatre de nos délires les plus vains ? En a t-il subi, ce
> pauvre Mont Blanc, des idées absurdes : la tentative de descente en voiture,
> celle en poële à paella, une autre en VTT et j'en passe. Victime d'égos
> surdimmensionnés, les sommets phares sont chaque jour dévoyés par des
> personnes donnant de l'alpinisme une image aberrante (CF la tentative de
> l'ascension de l'Everest...en short ! Vous y verra-t-on bientôt en mailot de
> bain ?).Promotion dont nous nous passerions bien à l'heure ou nos effort
> tendent à rendre à ces montagnes leur véritable statut. Mes clients
> n'avaient-ils pas le droit de jouir au terme d'un effort que vous avez vécu,
> d'un sommet conforme ou presque à leur idéal ? Il me semble que cette façon
> de s'approprier un lieu au mépris des nuissances causées à l'égard des
> autres personnes qui le fréquente, celà sans autre objectif que de s'offrir
> un délire de potaches se situe à la limite del'incivilité. Salutations.
> Denis Crabieres, guide de montagne, secrétaire du syndicat national des
> guides de montagne

~~~
namdnay
I understand the feeling, but I can't help seeing an undercurrent of "please
don't make the mountain look easy/fun/silly or all the macho sunday-
mountaineer stockbrokers who pay me won't want to climb anymore"

We got the same flack from the guides (and the police, but that was fair TBH)
when we did the massive paragliding group landing summer 2012

~~~
arethuza
I imagine he probably wants a rule introduced to make it compulsory to hire
guides to carry your jacuzzi to the top of any mountain :-)

[NB I am biased by personally being quite miffed at the protectionism of
French ski instructors]

~~~
namdnay
Oh god don't get me started on the ESF... That's a classic cartel if there is
one. Did you know that they don't let you keep the wages you own? All the
money is pooled and then split at the end of the season according to seniority
and number of hours. What a scam.

Not that I don't agree with the higher standards required - in other alpine
countries you see a lot of anglo-saxon "instructors" who clearly wouldn't be
able to pass the tests.

~~~
arethuza
Well, personally I'm miffed about the banning of ski hosting - where they are
_very_ careful not to give instruction but it's great to have someone take you
round and book restaurants etc.

Having said that, I know of one large French ski area that seems OK with it
but I won't say which one it is... :-)

------
huuu
Reminded me of extreme ironing :)
[https://www.google.com/search?q=extreme+ironing&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=extreme+ironing&tbm=isch)

~~~
jacquesm
Some of those pictures give me vertigo, something I'm not normally sensitive
to. That's on par with 'wetriffs'.

------
noelwelsh
I like that they're all wearing helmets while in the jacuzzi. Because, you
know, it would be completely irresponsible not to. (They're probably more
worried about knocking a helmet off the side by accident, if they were taken
off, than the utility of wearing a helmet should the cables holding the
jacuzzi break.)

~~~
tlrobinson
It looks like they all have safety harnesses/ropes. I'd be glad to be wearing
a helmet if my jacuzzi were to suddenly drop out from under me.

~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
The real issue is that a jacuzzi full of water weights a lot. The bridge is
not designed for holding such a large load on the edge. A helmet won't help
you for this, and a harness and rope attached to the bridge at the same point
as the jacuzzi may not either.

------
kieranajp
Before I clicked this, I thought 'suspended jaccuzzi' was the name of a
startup.

~~~
josefresco
I assumed 'jaccuzzi' was some sort of new programming language or framework
that I missed out on, and that "suspended" was referring to a specific
implementation clearly superior to non-suspended jaccuzzi ;)

~~~
rahvin
Well to be honest, even though it is not a programming language, I would argue
that this jacuzzi implementation is clearly superior to a non-suspended
jacuzzi.

~~~
Agathos
Conventional Jacuzzi is much more amenable to static analysis. And just look
at the startup time!

But I'll admit: these folks know how to scale.

------
stolio
This reminds me of the article on bullshitting the other day. On the one hand
this is useless play time that wastes resources. But it's also quite a big
project. Everybody who took part in planning and executing it gained a lot of
experience in project planning and management, the dynamics of working with
people, how to work with their peers.

No matter what random challenge tomorrow brings this group of people is
probably better equipped to deal with it than most social groups who have
never tackled anything like this together. Of course they may not be great at
handling the mundane, and that might be what drives them to hang jacuzzis off
bridges.

------
alexivanovs
Those are some high spirited friends, wish you could order them in mail just
like that. But anyway, what about the permissions, is everyone going to start
doing this now?

~~~
Carrok
With the amount of effort clearly involved in such an operation, I think it is
fairly safe to say that no, everyone is not going to start doing this now.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Until someone decides it's time to dirsupt the jaccuzzi industry and starts a
bridge-breaking start-up.

------
digi604
they also did one on top of Mont Blanc (highest mountain of Europe):
[http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc.php?id=112](http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc.php?id=112)
and inside a cave where you need to dive to reach the spot:
[http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc.php?id=171](http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc.php?id=171)

~~~
jkot
MB is not highest mountain in Europe, but in EU.

~~~
felixvolny
I'm from Europe and this is news to me. The caucasus isn't in Europe, you
know?

~~~
arethuza
"The Caucasus or Caucasia is a region at the border of Europe and Asia"

"It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europe's highest
mountain, Mount Elbrus"

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus)

NB I've always thought of Europe stopping at the Urals, the Caucasus and the
Bosphorus.

------
jtheory
The question that keeps running through my head -- how do you get back up onto
the bridge, once you've left the jacuzzi?

Pulled up by winch?

Hand over hand climbing (ouch) or manually but assisted by equipment (e.g., I
can imagine one-way sliders on the rope that'd let you climb with leg power)?

I did my share of rappelling when I was a teenager, but never had to climb
back up the way I'd come with nothing but the rope....

~~~
tomkinstinch
Such imagined one-way leg powered rope sliders exist[1]! They work well, but
surely would be tiring and—after exiting a jacuzzi into a windy void—I'd have
to imagine quite cold.

1\.
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascender_%28climbing%29](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascender_%28climbing%29)

~~~
BuildTheRobots
You don't actually need the hardware -very similar results can be achieved
using a spare piece of rope and a prussic knot*.

((I really hope I got the knot name right.))

~~~
dagw
True, but using actual ascenders is so much quicker and easier than doing it
with prusik knots.

~~~
BuildTheRobots
Very true -I guess the point I was trying to make is that if you find yourself
at the bottom of a rope _without_ an ascender to hand, all hope is not lost.
(though admittedly, I'd probably need a working internet connection to be able
to remember how to tie a prussic ;) )

------
stickfigure
I applaud their chutzpah. However, my crew would not be wearing swimsuits!

I don't think I could bear to take off my harness, though. Getting clothing
off would be a conundrum... either that or a very cold descent.

~~~
4ndr3vv
Relevant Mr Bean link:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3smh7055cTQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3smh7055cTQ)

------
aerique
Ah, humans. What will they think of next?

------
2810
What about hot air balloon jaccuzzi?

~~~
jacquesm
Good luck lifting 6 tons with a hot air balloon. (That's what this contraption
weighs). Even a small one would be out. A four person hot air balloon can lift
about 1 ton max, including all the gear, gas, burners etc. That leaves very
little room for deadweight such as water, on the plus side you wouldn't have
to take any ballast at all.

~~~
amelius
How about 6 balloons then?

~~~
jacquesm
I've seen that movie.

------
ohashi
On the frontpage the domain is showing as jaccuzzi.c (no h), is that a bug?

~~~
DanBC
You have a plugin causing that.

Someone posted an imgur screenshot to HN with a title something like "bug on
HN today". This was within the past day or so.

The Algolia search is fucking hopeless so I can't find the submission now.

~~~
redox_
Hey Dan, what kind of problem do you have with the search (we recently fixed
the back button + are also working on the small 320px screens support). I
would be happy to improve it.

------
nhangen
Am I the only one that doesn't understand the point of this exercise?

~~~
acadien
I think its called "enjoying life", totally overrated from what I've heard.

~~~
nhangen
I can enjoy life just fine without a jacuzzi hanging on a bridge.

------
foxhedgehog
This seems risky.

------
shittyanalogy
Some people do things. Some don't. Do you do things?

------
schainks
Of all the gear and prep that was needed, they even made sure there was pie
and cake. Really important. Really.

------
ck2
Meanwhile today in Syria...

~~~
azinman2
lol... but seriously it is amazing the heterogeneity of realities at any given
time.

~~~
ck2
9 million people made homeless and millions of orphaned kids is a hell of a
reality.

That's like every single person in NYC being made homeless.

------
dvdplm
I for one wonder if they had sex in there. And if they didn't, I totally don't
get it.

