Re: [RR] Rappel (Abseil)

[Brian Wood]

Jen   I never could turn down a request from a lady even though in this case it doesn't apply <g>. As some of you will know, my sister suffered a brain haemorrhage earlier this year and, as a result, became blind. I saw an appeal from the charity Royal National Institute for the Blind for people to abseil down a local tall building and to get sponsors. I abseiled some years ago when we took the children on an adventure holiday. Other than that I had no experience.   Sunday morning I got up bright and early to set off and ...... fog! The previous day had been warm for the time of year and it had cooled overnight. We drove into Manchester anyway and most of the fog had lifted there. I knew the building (the Hotel Picaddilly) and it didn't look too bad as it is actually next to a taller one. We drove on to the Plaza car park (the hotel is built on to the plaza and so the descent wasn't to the pavement) and saw the ropes and helmets. It was suddenly becoming very real to me. The Hotel Picaddilly is quite shabby outside but when we went inside it is very luxurious. Somehow the receptionist knew that we had come for the abseil. I'm not quite sure how <g>. Registration was on the next floor he informed us.   After registration it was a case of waiting until the professionals were ready for us. Now I was agitated and just wanted to get it over with. Eventually they asked for the first six. I went outside and we were fitted out with a harness, helmet and gloves. Then we went back in and up in the lift to the top floor (14th I think) and from there out to the roof. There was quite an elaborate array of ropes with two dangling over the side. I was going to go first but some guy older than me beat me to it. Then I missed the trip down the other side of the side of the building (There was actually part of the building protruding between the two ropes. Looking from the top it would look like ----x-----|_____|-----x------ with the abseil lines going down at the x's). Finally it was my turn and I was hooked up. I was going to wave to my wife, sister and friends below but when I started to look down I thought better of it. My head for heights is not what it was. I sat on the low wall at the edge of the building with one leg on either side. This was it. I gingerley  brought my other leg over the wall until I was hanging in mid air with nothing but a 165 ft drop below me. This was the panicky bit because you are then totally dependent on the rope and the person lowering you into position.   I braced my feet against the wall and asked the guy to lower me a bit more to get me in position, clasped the rope firmly, and set off walking down the wall. After a while I began to experiment with clasping the controlling rope tighter then more loosely to get a variation in speed. I was quite surprized at the increase in speed when I pushed myself away from the wall with my feet. The side of building is also built as an overhang and so the last 15 ft or so was a free descent. I don't know how long the descent took but it didn't seem to last all that long. When I was stood back on the ground I was surprized also at how much I was shaking considering I found the experience far easier than I remembered. In fact, I might even take it up when I have got the final year of my distance learning degree out of the way.   I borrowed the digital camera from work but for some reason the pictures of me coming down the side of the building did not take. Also, because everyone who was abseiling looked very similar (dark pants dark blue top and red helmet) it wasn't obvious who was coming down and so our friend who had the video camera had gone to watch the other rope and could not get back. Fortunately, my sister's friend had gone to street level and has got some of my descent on video. Also there should be some pictures on the film camera when I eventually get them developed.   BoW ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Brian Wood ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 20, 2000 6:00 PM Subject: Re: [RR] Rappel (Abseil) OK sir Brian, don't just leave us "hanging". Do tell us more about your experience leaping off buildings at a single bound?   Cdr Jen ----- Original Message ----- From: Brian Wood To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2000 11:32 AM Subject: [RR] Rappel (Abseil) All   Today I managed to survive a 145 fall down a building. The reason - I was attached to a rope! How many times do we survive a fall because Jesus is our rope?   BoW   [BTW It's not too late to sponsor me <g>]