Rope Access Team

Since its inception, the Bureau of Reclamation has used some form of rope access for working in vertical and steep environments, usually on the abutments of dams. Numerous projects in the American West required the use of ropes to allow workers to drill, scale, stabilize, and maintain the long, near vertical slopes associated with dams built in steep gorges. The most well-known of these sites is Hoover Dam, where the high scalers became famous for their daring work on the cliffs high above the foundation in this steep, desert canyon. There is now a monument to these early rope-access workers at the Hoover Dam visitor’s center. (Continued)