Climbing Mount Everest – 10 times

05 May 2020

Trainee engineers see the world from a new perspective as training centre celebrates its first year. They've been estimated to have climbed the equivalent of ten times the height of Mount Everest.

Climbing telephone poles is not for the faint-hearted. For some trainee engineers this is one of the biggest challenges of their training. Its been estimated that since our training school in Peterborough opened in early 2019, trainees have climbed the equivalent of 10 times the height of Mount Everest.

Climbing telephone poles is an essential part of the job. The poles which are typically nine metres high (nearly 30 feet), may not look much from the ground, but certainly offer a different perspective from the top.

"To think that between us all, we’ve climbed Mount Everest ten times is staggering."

Although all learning is being carried out remotely at the moment, due to Covid-19, the Peterborough centre is usually where engineers learn how to take fibre connections all the way from the telephone exchange, through a series of underground and overground ducts and poles, into a customer’s home or business.

Since opening, the centre has seen 2,500 engineers come through its doors. It is one of 12 locations across the country that our new recruits, and experienced engineers, come to be trained in the latest technologies.

We spoke to new recruit Nicole Taylor, (pictured above) who said: “To think that between us all, we’ve climbed Mount Everest ten times is staggering. I was very comfortable climbing the poles for the first time, but I can see why some people might be apprehensive."

As Peterborough celebrates it's first birthday, the engineers it's trained is not the only thing it's proud of; for 2019 'International Women in Engineering Day' an open event was held where hundreds of members of the public were welcomed inside to see the state-of-the-art facility and how engineers are trained.

Climbing Mount Everest – 10 times

Trainee engineers see the world from a new perspective as training centre celebrates its first year. They've been estimated to have climbed the equivalent of ten times the height of Mount Everest.

"To think that between us all, we’ve climbed Mount Everest ten times is staggering."

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