Douglas Hansen's High Angle Technologies At Work

 Computer simulated rock fall.  We feed in the information about the angles, distances, coefficients of restitution, coefficient of tangential restitution, slope roughness per cell, friction angle, deviations, etc.  Essentially recreating the slope or cliff for the computer to roll rocks down.  Then we can determine how much energy they will develop, how high they will bounce. All of this is important to know to determine whether or not the hazard is as serious as it might appear, what type of barrier will be required, how tall the barrier needs to be, etc.

Determining the profile for computer simulation, installation of rock fall mitigation tools, etc.  We do much more than shoot a straight line down the mountain.  Rock unimpeded will fall directly down the fall line, but in real life they follow a fall line determined by gravity and the slope or cliff face.  Knowing  "this"  line is essential for getting accurate rock fall simulations.

We roll thousands of rocks,  many via the computer, and many on actual slope, which helps us calibrate the computer for more accurate results.  This 50 ton boulder will behave much differently than a 400 pound rock.  Depending on what the slope holds in store, we roll various sizes to know worse case situations.

Industrial Rope Work, or Rope Access Work is a far cry different than rock climbing.   A common mistake when hiring for this type of work is hiring a rock climber, or a rappeller.  Although related, it is quite different.  The laws, and techniques are vastly different.  We use a work line and a safety line in case one gets cut, or we have an equipment failure. That way we are backed up completely.  These are the techniques we teach in the Industrial Rope Work Courses

Rock fall simulation with various cells, and simulated barrier.  We use several different programs to ensure we cover all the bases.  Each vertical line represent a change in  slope roughness, angles, loading points, etc.