Something a little different for the rope access team today.

Vandals at Nelson Cathedral cut the rigging lines that are used to hoist flags high above the cathedral bell tower, with the previous rigging line fully removed we climbed the flag pole atop the tower to install the new rigging lines through the block at the top of the pole so the flag could again be hoisted.

Pole climbing is not a technique often used in rope access, it requires progressively shifting a series of “pole snatch’s” connected to the harness and foot loops and shifting the climbers weight between the harness and foot loops shifting the unloaded snatch one at a time, it is a relatively slow ascent technique used when direct access to the top of the structure is not possible.

The flag has been hoisted and is no blowing in the breeze.