Dunno what sort of lantern hangs 80ft in the air though - our maximum working height from a catwalk is 40ft, and we wear safety harnesses. The theatre spent like $600 each on them, and they're pretty comfortable. They're comfy enough to sleep in, anyway, when working through the night. Just carabiner onto a railing or bar, and lie back...
Where I work[ed] (going to uni next week, so won't be working there any more) we've had 4 people fall from the catwalks. One landed in the seating and was OK, two were wearing harnesses, and one never walked again.
It's OK to dispense with them if you're just going up to the grid to change a scroller address or something, but when you're rigging and focussing in a hurry, they're indispensible, because you can take risks in them.
