Catenary suspension system
A bit more info on the pad. It is located in the centre of a mountain cirque (like the focal point on a satellite dish) Making for very difficult wind predictions. It was only safely possible to point towards the mountain, as the other direction dropped off for 4600 feet into the Kemano Valley making wind prediction nearly impossible.
Power was always kept on as you can imagine. The first lineman would slowly transfer his weight out of the aircraft. Next he would receive the emergency repelling gear (750 feet), then the other lineman would follow. During this few minutes, it would seem like an hour to me as I used the limited references and constant power changes to keep the JetRanger from applying too much weight or conversely, lifting off.
There were six conductors (267 Kv) fore and aft, with the two support cables rising to the left and right.
After the drop off, we were usually required to sling work gear such as hanging ladders or insulator glass into the platform.
I can tell you, they don't pay pilots enough for that kind of stress.