TheBanyanTree: Carabiner anyone?

[Sachet]

Every Autumn I fly up to visit my brother in North Carolina. We either 
go camping, hiking or climbing in the mountains. This year, he wanted to 
teach me how to rappel and rock climb.

I cut and pasted some climbing lingo that I learned that might help 
before reading the story. Or if you already know it, then skip on down.  
:-)

Pictures can be found at:

http://remsset.com/thebanyantree/sachet/

(The first four pics are at the 30 foot cliff and the last three are at the 100 foot cliff.)


Belay:
Safety technique in which a stationary climber provides protection, by 
means of ropes, anchors and braking devices, to an ascending or 
descending partner.

Belay Device or Figure-Eight:
A forged metal device of various configurations through which a climbing 
rope is threaded and then linked to a carabiner in order to provide 
friction to brake a fall.

Belay Slave:
One who can be persuaded by any means (promises, deception, love, 
coercion) to stay on the ground and provide a safety belay for a 
procession of climbers

Belay Station:
A stance on a rock face of varying degrees of discomfort from which a 
climber provides roped protection for his or her ascending/descending 
partner.


Carabiner:
Forged aluminum or steel devices of various shapes (oval, D-ring, etc.) 
with a spring-loaded gate through which a climbing rope can be threaded. 
The most basic all-around tool on a climber's rack, they are used 
variously for such activities as belaying, rappelling, prusiking and 
clipping into safety anchors. (Common usage: "Biner").

Crux:
The most difficult section of a climbing/rappelling route.

Exposure:
The condition of being on high vertical rock with full consciousness 
that nothing exists between you and the distant ground but thin air.

Fingerlock:
A crack climbing technique wherein the fingers are wedged (often 
painfully) into a crack for purchase on the rock.

Flapper:
A large piece of detached skin, often field-repaired with Super Glue or 
duct tape.

Free Climb:
To ascend steep rock without recourse to artificial aids, using only the 
hands and feet to propel oneself upward. (Although ropes and anchoring 
devices are employed for protection, they are not used to bear the 
weight of the climber or for upward progress.)


Prusik:
A sliding friction knot used to descend a rope; to ascend a rope by 
means of such a knot.

Top Rope:
A climbing rope that is anchored from above.

***************************************

Actual story begins now........ :-)

The guys debated whether to rappel at Stone Mountain or Pilot Mountain. 
Pilot Mountain was decided upon because it offers more challenging 
cliffs. In my naivety, I of course, had not a clue as to what this would 
mean. The next debate was whether or not to start me on the 30-40 foot 
cliff or the 100 foot cliff. Again, cluelessness was my friend. <g> They 
took me to rescue training areas, off the beaten path.

All three guys - Mike, Rick and my brother Scott, are experienced 
mountain rescue paramedics. Scott and Mike have completed all four 
levels of mountain rescue. Their gear is top notch and safety is of the 
utmost importance. That being said, they are also all alpha GUYS and 
love nonchalantly adding a splash of danger to their lives. Rick even 
asked me if I was a danger junkie. Again, another insightful clue that 
zipped right over my little head.

Mike, having grown up rappelling on Pilot Mountain, decided that it 
would be best for me to first rappel down the smaller cliff. He helped 
me into my harness, strapped me up TIGHTLY (Lordy, is that harness ever 
tight! For good reason. Thank God I had sense enough to leave it as he 
had adjusted it) and all three guys offered various advice, suggestions 
and insights into proper rappelling.  I put on my safety helmet and 
leather gloves to protect my hands from rope burns and to offer 
protection whilst rock climbing. I learned that the carabiners come in 
two versions - self-locking or do-it-yourself. I was glad they gave me 
the former so I dinna have to remember to lock them each time I went 
down the cliff. Little things like that make ALL the difference. They 
taught me how to knot my prusik line. VERY important safety feature that 
glided down the rope with me, but if I lost my footing (otherwise known 
as FALLING) the prusik would automatically grab the main rope and stop 
my descent.  Experienced climbers keep their hand over their prusik, but 
Mike told me to keep my hand above mine, since human nature dictates 
that when you feel yourself falling you tend to clench your hand - 
thereby releasing the friction aspect of the prusik, causing you to 
plummet into the side of the cliff and on down to the ground.

The top rope was anchored to a huge boulder conveniently perched on top 
of the cliff. The belay rope was attached to a nearby tree. So there I 
was, two carabiners attached (one to the belay line and one to the 
figure-eight), my figure-eight threaded with the top rope, my hands in 
position, (left one gripping the top rope just above my prusik, right 
one behind me, tightly pushed up under my bottom, thumb-inward. That 
made the top rope ride my right thigh, then go behind me and was how I 
controlled my rate of descent. There's a rhythm to descending. I 
practiced it a couple of times, hanging from the anchor boulder, a mere 
5 feet off the ground. I was glad I did, because when I was poised on 
the balls of my feet, on the edge of the cliff, it felt TOTALLY 
different and that wouldn't have been the time to figure out what hand 
did what.

As soon as I started descending the sense of gravity was INCREDIBLE!  At 
that moment I knew the full meaning of "exposure".  The ropes and safety 
gear are irrelevant for a while, as your mind grapples with the fact 
that you could fall and it would HURT. (Or not..... if you instantly die 
and feel no pain. <g.>) Once I got past that it was easy though. Perfect 
first time cliff to rappel down, because it was so flat-faced and went 
straight down with no overhangs or curvatures.

First time down, my stomach muscles were protesting. I didn't quite have 
my rappelling posture as it should be. I guess I was inclined to hunch 
closer to the cliff face, thinking that would help???????? Second time 
was lots easier and I pushed off the cliff and bounced back, just like 
you see in movies. <g> I scrabbled sideways a bit, just to try that out 
too. The only really hard part about rappelling was the climb back up to 
the top of the cliff. No safety ropes then. Just free climbing over 
boulders, searching for fingerlocks and footholds. I was SO thankful for 
my leather gloves then! For the smaller cliff it was nice that the 
ascending route was right next to the cliff face, so we didn't have to 
trek out of our way.

After we hiked over to the 100 foot cliff (the view was fantastic!) we 
sat on top in the shade, ate lunch and I watched as the guys 
repositioned the gear. This time the top rope and belay rope were 
anchored to a huge boulder, but with separate anchor belts. I watched 
Scott and Rick descend and I noticed that they were scrambling for 
footing as soon as they left the edge of the cliff. I made a note to 
myself that I was going to have to be VERY careful about that. Next, it 
was my turn and I made sure not to look down as I stepped onto the edge. 
I had already done so from a laying-down-peeking-over position and the 
drop was imposing, to say the least. The first thing I noticed that was 
different from the first cliff, was the weight of the top rope. It was 
SO heavy because it was hanging down a much higher cliff. The guys 
explained that the cliff jutted out at the top, then there would be rock 
face curving inward for about the first 50 feet and then free rappelling 
for the last 50 feet. (No rock face, just me and my ropes hanging in 
mid-air on the side of the mountain <g>) I remember standing in 
position, the balls of my feet on the edge of the cliff, leaning back 
into the harness, hands in position on the rope to start my 
descent......I barely lifted one foot and next thing I knew..... I was 
*slamming* into the side of the cliff upside down. (I dinna even have 
time to blink or scream, it happened SO fast. Talk about feeling the 
irrefutable power of gravity!)  *THWAP* went my bottom into the side of 
the cliff (thank you Lord, for that natural padding!)....and my right 
elbow took a glancing blow as I bounced again. My helmet was all askew 
and that bothered me a lot, because I could feel it wanting to slip off 
my head and I knew it would be very unnerving to have it crash doooooown 
to the ground. I discovered that time does indeed crystallize at such 
moments, because I can so vividly remember, (as I hung upside down) 
glancing over to the cliff to my right and seeing the two vultures 
perched there. God has SUCH a sense of humor at times. <g>. (THAT was 
when I was SO glad I had left the harness so tight!)

Scott and Mike peered over the edge at me, reassuring me that Mike had 
the belay line tied off....my prusik was locked in place...and I WASN'T 
going to fall. Scotty kept talking to me so much that I started to get 
annoyed. I just wanted to know what I needed to do to get rightside up 
and I wanted to know it NOW!! (He was, of course, following proper 
procedure and ensuring that I was calmer before he told me what to do.) 
I am relieved to say that I never panicked, but I guess my face was 
looking a wee bit tense. <g> I listened and followed his instructions 
very precisely, repeating them back to him, because I dinna want to make 
a careless mistake. (Did you know that Lamaze breathing techniques come 
in handy at the darnedest times?? <g>) Twice, he had to tell me to put 
my feet back down. I was so close to the edge of the cliff, I just kept 
thinking that if I could get my heels back up over the edge I would feel 
a lot better about being upside down. But, no, that wasn't the right 
thing to be doing, so I put my left hand behind me, (AFTER twice asking 
Scotty if I could remove it from my top rope death grip) and tried to 
push myself back into the proper rappelling position. But, my arm wasn't 
long or strong enough and the pressure holding me smack against the 
cliff face was immense. So I placed my feet into position and Scott 
reached over and pulled me upright. I REALLY did NOT want to let go of 
his hand. I had two other choices - go down the mountain facing outward, 
with nothing to rappel against, or have Scot come over the side of the 
mountain and attach me to his rescue harness. I sure as hell didn't want 
either of those ignoble choices to happen, so I took a deep breath and 
did what he asked. It only took a few seconds to get upright into 
position again and then I took a DEEP breath, asked Scott if I could now 
fix my helmet and did so. Mike, ever-helpful kinda guy that he is, took 
a sec to say "You looked pretty stupid hanging upside down there like 
that."  He grinned at me and I grinned at him. I took a few more seconds 
to look around (It was unbelievably beautiful!!), got my bearings and 
then once again began my descent. It was considerably easier at this 
point because I was over the crux and could practice the skills I had 
learned on the smaller cliff.  It wasn't any harder or even scary to 
free rappel, once I got into that section of the descent....just 
different. I think my free descent was too jerky, but that's something I 
can work on smoothing out with practice.

Rick was waiting for me at the bottom. In fact he had manned the belay 
line at the bottom of the cliff to help guide me away from the tree tops 
at one point.  I discovered that the term "bottom" is relative in 
rappelling. We were merely at the bottom of that particular cliff. We 
had to climb down further to reach the trail to hike over to climb back 
up the ravine where we had initially rappelled down the 30 foot cliff. 
Overall, THAT was a demanding climb. I was very tired after I got back 
to the top. As I sat there, telling myself I needed to go down it at 
least one more time, Scott turned to me and said that he and Mike had 
decided that I probably didn't need to know that when I was hanging 
upside down and they were telling me that I was safe, and that I wasn't 
going to fall....that I _could_ have slipped out of my harness. That 
thought had NEVER *EVER* occurred to me.  Well, that did it. I was not 
going down that cliff again that afternoon.

Scotty has a great padded rescue harness with straps over his shoulders 
and all kinds of hook-ups. There's no way he can slip out of his 
harness. The rest of us had the usual type of harness. Perfectly safe, 
because most people don't hang upside down whilst rappelling, unless 
they are going down Aussie style. Which, Mike (again being SO helpful 
while I got my bearings), pointed out as an option for me.  Personally, 
I prefer the usual manner of rappelling. I'll do it again, in a 
heartbeat. But, before I do that particular 100 foot cliff I will 
practice going over a similar drop-off edge first. (Luckily they have 
one at Stone Mountain and it's only a 20 foot drop.)  8-)

After we got done rappelling, we went hiking around the Big Pinnacle of 
Pilot Mountain. A few miles of trails going up, down and around boulders 
and smaller cliffs. It was so BEAUTIFUL! I changed into shorts at that 
point because I was so hot. It started out chilly, in the 50's and 
reached the 70's. Perfect weather! 


Once we returned to Mike's house, he wanted to show me some pictures of 
his last trip to Pilot Mountain.....in the summer. The one where his 
friend (who is an experienced climber/rappeler) fell, hit his head (his 
helmet slipped), fractured his skull, had to be airlifted out and was in 
a coma for 4 weeks. (Thankfully, he's fine now.) It was during a class 
Mike was teaching. Dave came to watch, decided to rappel, which he has 
done countless times before on Pilot Mountain at the 30 foot cliff. He 
inexplicably grabbed his prusik when he started to fall, which allowed 
him to slam into the base of the cliff. The experienced rappeler's 
usually don't use a belay line and Dave didn't that day. Scotty didn't 
use one his second time down the 100 foot cliff. Mike was VERY cautious 
and insistent that everyone use a belay line for the first few descents. 
I, of course, as a rank amateur had no choice but to use one and would 
not care to ever rappel without one. After he showed me the pictures, I 
certainly understood his cautious attitude.

I liked how the guys saved any alarming news for "after" I did 
something. <g>

Stone Mountain was another day, another story and the only other time I 
felt that unnerving sense that what I was doing was risky enough that if 
I fell it would either hurt like hell or I was going to actually die. 
Scott takes great pride in providing me with new challenges every year. 
This year he outdid himself. I had the best vacation of my life.

;-)

...Sachet