Photo Via: NYT
Green energy spending creates jobs for all types, even rock climbers.
There is an interesting article in the New York Times about how rope companies — which have historically taken such cool niche jobs as inspecting big dams, cleaning Mount Rushmore, repairing offshore oil platforms and trimming massive trees — are now keeping busy fixing wind turbines.
From NYT:
The jobs these days involve inspecting turbines, cleaning them and repairing them, which becomes necessary if a blade is struck by lightning or damaged by ice. The blades are made of fiberglass, and repair jobs may involve taking out the old fiberglass and putting in new material, which then needs to be sanded down for smoothness.
Companies like Rope Partner, which was founded in 2001 by avid climber Chris Bley (who learned to turn his love of climbing into a profitable business from two Germans he met while climbing in Joshua Tree National Park in the 1990s) are jumping at the opportunity.
“I was just amazed to think you could actually make a business out of working on ropes,” said Mr. Bley, who occasionally gets recruits from a Santa Cruz rock-climbing gym in which he invested.
According to Mr. Bley, about half of Rope Partner’s technicians double as recreational climbers.
And the best part is that the job actually pays well. Igor Stomp, chairman of the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians, told the NYT that the estimated cost of a basic one-day job by two climbers start in the neighborhood of $2,000 and goes up from there.
According to one technician: “it pays well — for dirtbag climbers.”
[Via: NYT]
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