GeoZone - Applied Geology & Geotechnics

GeoZone Geotechnical - Rope Access

It was the largest rope-access project in the world at the time, and may still old that position to this day. To bar down loose rock over the entire mountainside above Chapman's Peak Drive in Cape Town was a phenomenal undertaking and the project ran from September 2002 to April 2003. Several teams of abseilers, armed with crowbars, spent months hanging on ropes knocking loose and dangerous blocks from the high slopes above the road. Once the barring down project was completed the same crews were used to install the Geobrugg catch fences on precipitous slopes - a job that would have been impossible by any other means.

Rope access was used to assess the geotechnical conditions on the abutments of the Mtentu and Msikaba bridges which were to form part of the infrastructure for the rerouted N2 Freeway.

It has also been used to clean up slopes in the Hex River Valley in the Cape and on some poorly constructed road cuttings in KwaZulu-Natal. It is also very effective in accessing inaccessible areas of structures which would otherwise require helicopter lifts or complicated scaffolding. Alpinist Safety Consultants has the skills and capacity to drill, install and grout gewe bars and soil nails, install and maintain catch fences, and of course assist in any situation where difficult access exists.

It is a highly cost effective, highly efficient and quick way to inspect, install, fix or clean a structure or to improve the safety of a road cutting. GeoZone was involved in all the above projects, and with their relationship with Alpinist Safety Consultants, are able to provide a rope-access service to the civil engineering industry.

The images above are shots from the Chapman's Peak job - click through to see larger versions of the same. Makes you dizzy just looking at them.

GeoZone Geotechnical - Rope Access

GeoZone - Applied Geology & Geotechnics