The 300-foot stretch of the Palisades looms over a section of the light rail route where an overpass is being built to carry rail cars over Baldwin Avenue near Harmon Boulevard. The work is part of the second phase of light rail construction, which will connect the Hoboken Terminal and PATH station to a North Bergen station on Tonnelle Avenue.

Workers for Janod Contractors Entrepreneur, with offices in Canada and Vermont, specialize in rock stabilization and rock remediation. Icy temperatures yesterday morning didn't bother one Canadian worker; he said he was glad to be working somewhere warmer than home.

"We are working across from New York and the view is perfect. What more can you ask for?" said Pierre Rousseau, project manager for Janod.

The work in Weehawken began two weeks ago, when bolts were driven at 5-foot intervals along the top of the cliffs for use as anchors. Each morning the crew of 10 holds a safety meeting and inspects their gear before putting on their harnesses, clipping ropes into the anchors and rappelling down the cliff to work areas, Rousseau said yesterday.

Beginning at the top of the cliffs and working downward, workers use steel bars to pry at the rock and debris, testing it and dislodging anything that is loose.

The process is called "scaling."

One worker found an unbroken beer bottle that had somehow become lodged in the rock, Rousseau said. The dislodged rock pieces have already formed large piles at the cliff's base.

Once the entire area of the cliff has been scaled, workers will drill holes and use bolts to secure any part of the cliff that could pose a danger in the future. Finally, a cement-like material will be sprayed over the bolts to make them invisible, Rousseau said.

Janod workers undergo several months of training in Vermont before beginning work. But Rousseau said it can take years for a worker to master "scaling."

Rousseau said the Weehawken scaling project should take two to three months to complete, and that other areas along the light rail route will need similar treatment. Contracts for those sections have not yet been awarded.

The second phase of light rail construction will also extend the line southward from Bayonne's 34th Street station to the 22nd Street station, said Ken Miller, a spokesman for New Jersey Transit.