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The National Park Service temporarily suspended assessment on the Washington Monument this weekend after a strong gust of wind blew an engineer clear off the top.
The climber, Erik Sohn, was blown 30 feet from the surface of the earthquake-damaged Monument by strong winds while he was performing an eye-level inspection of cracks near the top of the pyramid. The gust of air left the man dangling on a rope 50o feet off the ground.
A spokesperson with the NPS says the select group of climbers chosen to rappel from the monument is trained for such mishaps, and the team's project manager says Sohn, who was un-injured, even got a thrill from the ride. Weather permitting, NPS plans to resume the assessment later today.
The climbers are in search of loose pieces of stone and mortar, and cracks caused by the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the area in late August.
Video: A gust of wind blows engineer Erik Sohn 30 feet from the Washington Monument.
Video courtesy of: http://nbcwashington.com.
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