Rope Access Window Cleaning - Rope Transfer

Cleaning windows via a rope transfer on top of a skyscraper.

About the Building :
Riparian Plaza is a 53-storey skyscraper located in the central business district of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The building stands at 250 m (820 ft) in height to its communications spire and 200 m (660 ft) to its roof. It was Brisbane's tallest building until it was surpassed by Aurora in 2006 and is a particularly iconic building on the Brisbane skyline. (Wikipedia)

[drake]

When I was a kid in my dads office I would always watch these guys in amazement seeing them swing around outside a skyscraper. Respect to you and what you do!

[Angelus]

Imagine telling a girl you're a window cleaner and shes so unimpressed that she never calls you back.... And this is what you do.

[northstarpheonix]

I always read the comments to see what the experts have to say.

[brucegillies]

Old timer window cleaner here. For you youngsters, be thankful for OSHA and great climbing gear they use nowadays. When I first started we didnt have any kind of safety harness, we actually used to use a safety BELT. Yep, a belt. And you hope it fit good otherwise you might just slip through. And oh yeah, we used a sky genie chair with a cylinder style descender. Ever seen one of those? In case you never saw one, it had a steel rod that the rope wrapped around with a circle on the bottom that you hang your D ring for the chair. Then you slide a long aluminum cylinder that had a slit in it over the end of the rod and that trapped the rope inside it slowing you down with friction of the number of turns you made around the rod with your rope. More turns slower descent. Racing yer buddy to the bottom for beer, maybe 1 turn. Bounce down the wall as fast as you can just dont burn your rope or else you get a slick spot. And Dont get yer fingers caught in the mechanism or especially your ponytail or your shirt because those will be coming off. Attach the end of your rope to the eyelet of a huge parapet hook. Then hang your chair then your bucket from the chair, climb over the wall hanging on that hook like spiderman and slide your legs between the straps of the chair. Its gonna be a good day.

ADVICE: the one time I was truly ever scared: never let a rookie push your roller rig down the wall. quickest way for you to get a cut rope and him to get a broken nose if you dont fall.

My coworker: hey what time you think we'll be home by today after we do these couple of drops?

Me: sheeeit, we'll be home just in time to catch Good Morning America, these drops are on the NORTH SIDE!

Peace.

[jonnyferreiroo]

My boredom got me watching people clean windows due to the Coronavirus

[jedimindknight]

I feel like people don't get into this line of work without prior knowledge and experience. There is a certain sense of security when you've used your gear for a while and trust it. Being a sport climber, looking at this guy I would be more worried about the building tipping over than any of my gear failing. Idk, hard to put into words.

[reddyuda]

Had a tough, busy kind of unpleasant day at work, this is literally exactly what I needed. Thank you for the peaceful window washing and stay safe.

[drewm]

Yo my man has Vans on. He’s really off the walls on this one.

[jacobpearce]

As an arborist, I feel a certain brotherhood with you guys. Keep being fearless, and stay safe!

[_MOORE_]

Imagine being up there on the top floor, your door is locked while rubbing one out, and a window cleaner drops down to clean your windows haha

[dozer]

I came here for the obligatory “giant balls” comments.

I am leaving without disappointment.

[CommonCentrist]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you guys probably don't get paid enough to do this.

[scotterdmann]

I just watched a guy clean windows for 16 minutes...

[homeslice]

Good thing he's waering a helmet in case he falls.

[aidanbonnar]

I have cleaned this buiding 4 years ago when i lived in Brisbane. We didnt do a rope transfer like demonstrated here but each to their own and whatever your most comfortable with. The upper (residential) levels which you are cleaning here were the most scenic and fun but when you got down lower from levels 33 to 12 (commercial) with the they were absolute hell when i first did them. It was this building that made me the abseiler i am today. Great memories.

[xmnemonic]

Thanks for the beta bro, doing this route next week.

[ranny]

Surprised that the building didn’t fall down from the weight of this dudes massive balls

[OfficialNetDevil]

*His friends:* So how was work today?

*Him:* Eh, just another day at the office.

[EliteKannon]

This makes my residential/commercial window cleaning on one to two story houses look like child’s play

[AeroAviation]

I have done professional window cleaning for about 7 years, but thank goodness I never go above 3 stories, but I have many friends who do this. I literally have nightmares about stuff like this. Takes a special kind of person to do it.