Drill Bits and Dynamite....Part Twenty Three....Ropes and Harnesses

By Mike Pearson
The  Sea to Sky project required that workers on the rock crews ( scalers and blasters ) had to work from ropes... and rappel into work positions from time to time. Sometimes the height wasn't all that much....other  times it was a very long ways off the ground.

Here is a video of how it works ( not Sea to Sky )
This is a photo essay with descriptions of the action
Rock scalers Arlen and Tim helping to load blast holes on Cut10
Scalers working on cleaning up a safety trim shot to remove dangerous loose rocks
 loading a shot...hanging from a rope....below the Upper Levels Highway and above West Vancouver houses
Blaster Paul Cooper loading a shot at Cut 10 with help from Arlen and Tim
Arlen hanging out and loading explosives into blast holes
Tim's happy to be there
Great view from Cut 10 bench...Mike T at the bottom helping  out
A cluster of scalers on Cut 4...a cold and crappy day
Scaling crew hand drilling a blast round on Cut 14
Arlen and Sam on Cut 9...removing rock that might come loose and hit workers below on the next shift
Hand drilling on Cut 14....it's a hard job on flat ground...it just gets worse when you are hanging in a harness...on a cold snowy day
Setting up to rappel down the face at Cut 14
The long view of the same guy on Cut 14
Setting up to drill and blast a dangerous overhang
Cut 14
Scalers helping out the survey crew on Cut 10
If you look close at the top edge...you can see two rock scalers working away
Rock scaler hanging out...helping the drill operator to correctly place the bit
Scaling crew working with the drillers to install rock bolts
Hand drilling on a steep slope
Hand drilling in the days before the big drill arrived
 This is a video not related to the Sea to Sky job...it shows how noisy the pneumatic rock drills are...and how hard to handle. These guys are not what I would call pro...but you get the picture

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