>>2722913>how much does it pay to climbNot as much as you'd think, especially if you're working for one of the big tower co's (sba, crown castle, etc). I'd bet now it's $20-25/hr starting.
I own my business, so I get to charge a lot more but I'm also buying all my own climbing gear, rope, vehicles, insurance, insurance, taxes, insurance, training/recertification, insurance, more gear, computers, test equipment, tools, etc. I've probably got $100k in tools and test gear that a company would provide for you as an employee.
>how many days out of the year do you workBecause I own the business and take care of scheduling, I can pick the days/towers/etc I want to work. Climbing isn't my only "job", it's another service I provide. The tower I was on last week is the first tower i've been on in ~5 months. There's weeks I spend 10-12 hours a day hanging on a rope. Those are good months.
Working for a tower co, you'll probably be travelling, working 5-10 day jobs with a day of travel on either end, and a couple days off. A local company (WISP or small tower service co) may be more regular 8-5 m-f with some on-call/weekend/emergency/outage type work.
The work slows down in the winter, so you might get cut loose in the fall if you're not hired as a seasonal employee from the get-go.
The big co's work you like a dog, but provide training and equipment with opportunity to advance into team lead/supervisor roles. Easier to get into since they have onboarding/HR staff.
Small co's may provide training and minimum gear (Buy a nice/comfortable harness, even if it's out of your own paycheck. Worth it.), but pay may not be that great. The crews are a lot happier and they're better people to work with though. Easier to get into these jobs if you have training/experience and a foot in the industry already; difficult to get into as a walk-in applicant.
That "Fall" movie is fucking retarded. Check out "Vertical Freedom" for something more relevant/realistic.
