I just got back fro the Fontana Fire School where I took a high angle technical rope rescue class and rappelled off Fontana Dam. Before this I'd never rappelled off anything and was skurred of heights. I'm totally hooked now. I went over the dam 7 times and that shit is like crack! Who else is into this stuff?

That first step really is a doozy!

Rappelling Off Fontana Dam

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Rappelling Off Fontana Dam (Wide View)

Add to My Profile | More Videos

11/11/2007 11:43:40 AM

x

[Edited on November 11, 2007 at 12:37 PM. Reason : bah]

11/11/2007 12:36:19 PM

I did it a couple times back when I was in HS. It was off a training tower. I think it was 60ft tall. Seemed more like 600ft at the time Isn't it called Aussie style to go down face first? Had a friend do that and forgot to move his legs so he hit the side of the tower face first hanging upside down. That was some funny stuff

11/11/2007 12:43:29 PM

Aussie style is hardcore.

11/11/2007 12:46:10 PM

climbing > rappelling

11/11/2007 12:48:09 PM

^agreed.

after the first time or two, it's no big deal to go off the edge. there's no real sense of accomplishment

[Edited on November 11, 2007 at 12:54 PM. Reason : ]

11/11/2007 12:54:30 PM

Just start challenging yourself on how quickly you can get down, you should have been able to rappel down that dam touch the wall only 2 or 3 times

[Edited on November 11, 2007 at 1:01 PM. Reason : a]

11/11/2007 1:00:46 PM

According to the NC Dept. of Insurance curriculum fast-roping more than 75' using the figure 8's we had would get them dangerously hot. They showed us one that had grooves burned into it by the rope.

They also told us that the military only used their shit once when they fast-roped because they put so much heat and stress on the ropes and hardware.

11/11/2007 1:21:23 PM

Fast-roping is completely different. You wouldn't use a belay device in the first place.

And wow do they have the backups in place on those rappel videos.

[Edited on November 11, 2007 at 2:01 PM. Reason : .]

11/11/2007 1:59:24 PM

Yeah, I had a prussic, there was a secondary safety rope attached to the back of my harness with 2 emergency prussics attached to it, and the person at the bottom holding belay could stop the whole thing and lower me slowly even if I was unconscious with about 5-10 lbs of pressure. it's pretty amazing.

11/11/2007 3:16:26 PM

went off the wachovia building a couple months ago in downtown raleigh, was about a 300 foot drop. fun fun... used a brake rack and had a safety line attached to the rear point of our class 3 harness. Had to feed the first hundred or so feet through the rack, after that it was like butter

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shevais/sets/72157602260321544/

11/11/2007 3:51:43 PM

Sweet, how did you get permission to do that?

11/11/2007 4:03:07 PM

nice

11/11/2007 4:05:01 PM

^^ set it up through the Raleigh FD USAR guys. All of the RFD and CFD tech rescue people did it. Was probably the scariest thing I ever did climbing over that wall.

11/11/2007 5:09:54 PM

I haven't rappelled, but I've done crazy zip lines through the rain forest, which is also the shit.

11/11/2007 9:25:45 PM

That looks like fun! I've done some classes at fontana fire school. always a good time.

11/15/2007 9:12:03 AM

There are certainly plenty of shits and giggles to be had!


What classes did you take?

11/15/2007 9:16:11 AM

I went to a rappelling camp in Albemarle that lasted a few weeks when I was in high school. It was pretty fun. They didn't have harnesses, they taught you to tie your own out of a length of rope.

11/15/2007 9:29:26 AM

They taught us how to tie harnesses but the instructor said "I tie a couple of these every 6 months... the folks who made that harness probably made 50 that day. Now which do you trust more? My one every 6 months or their 50 a day?"

Also I've heard several stories about "male injuries" regarding harnesses tied from webbing or rope especially!

11/15/2007 10:14:56 AM

i did a no-wall rapell (if that's the word) on outward bound...THAT first step was a doozy

I wish that camera's pictures were developed

11/15/2007 10:16:15 AM

I rappel a little.
Typically it's climb the tree, prune some limbs or top it out, and rappel down.

Farthest distance has only been maybe 40-50ft

11/15/2007 10:21:29 AM

I'll tell ya I've rappelled using a Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 harness as well as harnesses that I've tied myself using both rope and webbing, and I'll take our new Class 3's that we just got over any of them. They are actually really comfortable and easy to use, not to mention extremely safe. the ones we got are actually convertible, that allow us to drop to a Class 2 if we didn't get the Class 3 protection. I used to prefer a class 2, but these new ones are pretty nice. A Class 1 is just scary, and very uncomfortable unless it's an emergency decent.

11/15/2007 10:56:06 AM

I've seen a guy do a running jump aussie-style off an open sided tower. Pretty impressive.

years ago as a Boy Scout I rappelled off Moore's Knob in heavy cloud cover. I couldn't see the bottom of the wall . . . felt like I was rappeling off the edge of the world.

[Edited on November 15, 2007 at 10:59 AM. Reason : .]

11/15/2007 10:57:47 AM

Quote :

"i did a no-wall rapell (if that's the word) on outward bound...THAT first step was a doozy "

I think that's a "belay." I'm not sure though. We did that but it was only 20-30 ft high. I don't like it.

11/16/2007 12:55:04 AM

^^ We had to do it several times in basic training at Fort Jackson. Doesn't the Army make recruits rappel anymore?

A couple of drill sergeants gave us the Australian-style demo, too. It was pretty kick ass. Face first and their feet didn't even hit the wall until they were almost halfway down.

^ Yes, it's "belay"--usually, one on rappel, one on belay. That dam looks a lot higher than the wooden tower I went off, though.

[Edited on November 16, 2007 at 1:12 AM. Reason : .]

11/16/2007 1:07:21 AM

The squad rappelled down to a man entrapped in a flipped car today and it made me think... If you rappel down and then need to stop so that you can work on something, how do you stop so that both hands are free? Are prusiks and bottom belay your only options?

12/13/2007 12:34:00 AM

I thought the angle of you holding the rope would be sufficient enough from the caribiner, so that you could just wrap the rope (assuming its not a couple hundred foot drop and thus the rope heavy as shit) around your waist whichever way so you aren't moving and clip onto another caribiner on your webbing. The rope aint gotta be tightened or fastened, just pulled to a certain angle. At least, thats what I did a long time ago with das boy scouts.

12/13/2007 1:32:03 AM

I like to go cycling, but only down hills.

12/13/2007 1:33:00 AM

Its a little different with rescue I'm sure, but in general you can wrap the rope around your leg a couple times and that will create enough friction to stop the rope from going out of the brake position. I'm sure you would do something similar to escaping the belay where the brake line is simply tied off to allow both hands to be free.

12/13/2007 7:03:16 AM

you can lock off using either your "8" or your brake rack. with prusics you would have to have a way to take the weight off of them when you were done. either another prusic that you put down by your feet to step up or use an ascender. We just lock off using whatever friction device we're using.

12/13/2007 10:49:31 AM

Beardawg, it looks like you have a red rope and a yellow rope. is the red one backup? even if it's not, I'd feel a lot safer with a "backup".

12/13/2007 2:05:43 PM

repelling off a chopper is fun as hell, just set off the skid and then its just air

12/13/2007 2:56:59 PM

Quote :

"The squad rappelled down to a man entrapped in a flipped car today and it made me think... If you rappel down and then need to stop so that you can work on something, how do you stop so that both hands are free? Are prusiks and bottom belay your only options? "

Wrap your breakstrand around your right thigh 3 times, it sounds like it wouldnt, but they teach this in many climbing classes as a way to lock-off on a rappel

12/13/2007 11:59:43 PM

^^ Were you Air Assault?

12/14/2007 2:14:15 AM

How about Tyrolean Traverses?

From our climb of the Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite Valley in April.

Actually, I've done far too many rappells off of questionable anchors to find it a ton of fun. Like last month I rappelled in the dark off a single piton that's ~thirty years old coming down the Palisades.



[Edited on December 14, 2007 at 2:28 AM. Reason : x]

12/14/2007 2:27:01 AM