One stage in my Career I was responsible for a lot of the concrete structures around the power stations (cooling towers and chimneys).
Climbed the Mount Piper stack, 750 feet, but it had internal stairs and ladders between the inner and outer casing...was great standing at the top of it, with a chest high concrete ledge on the outside, and a 10 foot high brick chimney at your back...Fine, until a civil engineer stood a ladder up and climbed up to look down the brick lining...my sphincter puckers just thinking of it.
Wallerawang (a bit over 600 feet) didn't have that, we needed steeplejacks...
Guys would swing a couple of six feet sets of ladders over their shoulder, and climb up, insert the next ladder section into the spiggot of the one that they are standing on, screw in a few bolts, then climb up the mew section, screw it on as they climbed...run out of ladders, climb down and get another arm full.
Half way up, they established a full perimeter "base camp, and winched stuff up to start again, until reaching the top, where they'd set up another full perimeter camp, lowering themselves down the inside brickwork in "bosun's chairs" to inspect and repair.
Was chatting to one of the guysm and essentially he'd have done it for nothing.
There's a LOT of Industrial Rope Access Guys getting around, who are doing this "high risk" work, far safer than any one here can imagine.
They are typically rock climbing adrenaline junkies who have s=found a way to make money while honing their skills and fitness...again, they are bringing an element of safety that didn't exist back when it was people who didn't do it every day gearing up for a one off job.
It's good for the guys in another way, as they end up up-skilling in rigging, welding, NDT, and a raft of other areas that will benefit them later.