"Five engineer climbers will take four more days to meticulously photograph every marble block as they look for damage caused by the August earthquake."
"Washington — Dangling by a rope more than 500 feet above ground, Dave Megerle settled his rock-climbing shoes into the white wall and went to work looking for cracks in the world's tallest all-stone structure. He's been scaling facades for more than 25 years, though none quite like the Washington Monument.
Megerle is one of five engineers who rappelled down the Washington Monument's four marble sides Wednesday to inspect damage caused by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the East Coast and closed the landmark on Aug. 23.
Climbers will take four more days to slowly photograph and video-record every marble block so the images can be compared with monument photos taken during its $10-million renovation in 1999. National Park Service rangers said they wouldn't know until mid-October when repairs could be made and the monument reopened."
Alexa Vaughn reports for the Los Angeles Times September 29, 2011.
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