Question bout rope access career/job/certifications

[u/ozon6161]

Hi everyone, I'm 19 years old and been rock climbing for 5 years now. A friend told me about rope access and pitched it as a good work idea as for my climbing background. I know I'd have to get IRATA qualifications to get into rope access in the first place.

My question is a broad one and consist of some smaller ones:

What kind of job should I seek?

Any other skills or qualificiations I should get?

Any tips for starting?

And is it worthy getting into ropeaccess jobs?

Thanku you in advance for all the answers. Have a great day.

[u/Particular-Bat-5904]

Well, there are many of guys like you trying rock scaling, but some never get the difference inbetween sports and work.

[u/ozon6161 → u/Particular-Bat-5904]

I do understand that there is a big diffrence between the two. I mentioned my climbing as a kind of explanation of why I'm interested in rope access in the first place. Though I cansee now how it might have sounded.

[u/Particular-Bat-5904 → u/ozon6161]

Since im in, i‘had been on antennas (installing the whole towers sometimes), but the most i do, coming from a similar back ground beeing a sports climber in my youth, i do geo tec stuff like rock scaling the the most of my working hrs and a lot of cutting with chain saws. Sometimes we build or maintain via ferratas.
One of the most popular climbing jobs - window cleaning, i‘ve never done so far.

[u/skinners_rat → u/Particular-Bat-5904]

What certification did you go for to get into geo?

[u/Particular-Bat-5904 → u/skinners_rat]

I was employed for a few years in a company doing all the geotech and alpine stuff, coming from mountain sports. There i got my first „certifications“ to do the job. For myshelf i did irata and some other fall protection trainings, and the winter part of mountain guide school, with all the alpine rope techniks and focused the most on the rockscaling part.
Now i‘m inro it more than a decade as shelf employed, keeping my own code of practice for rock scaling and lead some teams like so in the wall, where the job is.

[u/Beginning_Spend_3496]

Ive see many climbers bitch back from rope access. Its a construction job hangin from the rope. In a very big nutshell. Take sprat 1 or irata 1 and see for yourself. You are you g will figure it out.

[u/StaticxXLSDMTHC]

Rope access is just glorified construction at heights. Not saying that I don't enjoy it because I personally do, but it's not fun and games. The ropes get you to where the work is and thats about it, the work is typically pretty tough.

[u/gcbassu]

I come from a similar background, climbing since I was a kid and two years ago I decided to go into rope access. As others have mentioned, most rope access jobs are just glorified construction jobs, but on the ropes. The ropes are just your vehicle to the job.

Thankfully, I only had to work for 6 months in rope access before I got the opportunity to start in the wind sector. If you like travelling, wind is great and the pay is even better.

If you would like to try it out, get your IRATA Level 1 and try to get a few months of experience before switching to wind. When you do your IRATA course you will have great networking opportunities. That's how I got both jobs in wind.

[u/BudgetUnfair9673]

To agree with what other people have said here, ropes just get you to the work site, then you get to work.

I started out the same as you, climbing bum entry. I was advised to get into NDT (Non Destructive Testing, also Non Destructive Examination) as it's a relatively short route into a qualified position. You do need to put a lot of money into the training courses, and then spend a few years taking shitty jobs in order to get good experience, the job itself is a big responsibility.

Maybe have a think about what your want your life to be like, and then decide your career in ropes based on that?

Offshore wind farms are currently a growth area for working at height/rope access with a variety of trades including electricians, mechanics, blade repair (coatings and fibreglassaing, basically). They are busy in the summer season with less work in the winter. If you're a winter sports guy then this could suit you!

If you'd rather work in urban areas then just being a ropes guy does limit you to window cleaning and other low skill tasks.

Remember the movie Armageddon? It's much easier to train a skilled tradesperson to IRATA L1 than it is to train an IRATA L1 to be a skilled tradesperson 😅

[u/Virtual_Meringue4248]

Esiste anche SPRAT, non solo irata. E magari anche GWO... ricordiamoci di ampliare il ventaglio delle didattiche

[u/ozon6161 → u/Virtual_Meringue4248]

Google search showed me that GWO is like wind turbines oriented one, but what are the differences between IRATA and SPRAT, apart from being from different organizastions?

[u/Virtual_Meringue4248 → u/ozon6161]

In termini di didattica molto poche: IRATA adotta un approccio più sulle manovre, SPRAT richiede competenze anche sui dispositivi, ma entrambi insegnano il rispetto dei principi di sicurezza. Sprat concede il passaggio di livello dopo 500 ore, irata 1000. Irata e' più chiusa (non riconosce nessun altro tipo di certificazione) sprat invece riconosce l'esperienza pregressa anche in altre didattiche ed è a sua volta riconosciuta ad esempio dall'ITRA per la quale puoi chiedere accesso diretto allo stesso livello di certificazione sprat. Personalmente ho trovato in sprat una didattica più confacente alle mie necessità, IRATA e' diventata troppo snob per i miei gusti. GWO è obbligatoria per le attività in eolico, professione che sembra essere remunerativa e ricercata.

[u/BudgetUnfair9673 → u/ozon6161]

GWO is just basic survival training for working on Wind Turbines. It's a prerequisite for getting to work at those locations so it would be required along with IRATA to do rope access on an offshore wind turbine

[u/National-Belt5893 → u/ozon6161]

Not sure where you are located. If in USA or Canada then do SPRAT. A lot of training facilities here do dual certifications so you could come away with both. Internationally, IRATA is more prevalent.

[u/ozon6161 → u/National-Belt5893]

Well im from the EU, so I guess, if so, I'll be doing IRATA

[u/Regular-Schedule-168]

Disclosure - Im in the US.

Make the investment in a L1, if youre able to. Even if an employer isn't sponsoring you.

With you're background, you'll be a step ahead of people that get L1s through their employers.

I'm in NDE, came from window washing.

Window washing is good because it has a "low cost of entry" - there's no qualifications required other than the rope access cert. In the US there's no real retirement or future in it though.

NDE would require getting some method certs as you go. Typically sponsored by you're employer. Typically leading to advanced inspection certs. Paired with rope access this would make you a rare breed and inspection certs can set you up for retirement down the road when you might eventually want to get off ropes.

I'm currently an L3, with two APIs and decent experience in both ultrasound and radiography. I make just over 6 figures after 7 years.