Much of telegraph pole line construction is performed cross-country and in some cases through dense woods, over mountains and along the hills boardering road, rail road and stream beds.

Since much of the ground is not level and the sub-growth at or near the base of telegraph poles is as thick as....well thickets, ladders can be bears to move through such snarls. Did I mention not being level, especially at the base of the pole?

Climbers have two distinct advantages over most every other means of raising a lineman to his work:

They don't weigh much and can be transported over your shoulder, and

Climbers, being pre-formed pieces of strap iron, can be carried close to the body so as to keep them from being caught in the underbrush. Besides these reasons, it would cost the companies big bucks to install the little iron rungs on each pole along their system. Whenever you see such rungs on a pole it usually indicates that an important junction has been reached and that linemen must make 'jumper' repairs or frequent adjustments at that location. So, instead of chewing the wooden pole with gaff or climber digs, ladder rungs are inserted on that pole for convenience of the climber plus the wear-and-tear protection for the pole.

Hope this asnwers your question. Sorry you had to wait a little over a year to get the answer.

Walt
(a sometimes lineman)
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