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General Climbing Discussion

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Abseil Technique 19-May-2009 At 8:40:29 AM TonyB

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Interesting abseil technique from Bear Grylls on "Man vs Wild" last night:

1. Build up strength by feasting on left-overs in fresh bear poo. Be sure to rinse thoroughly. Be confident that you can digest what a bear can't.

2. Throw boulder off top of cliff and time how long it takes to hit bottom. Hope no one else has rapped in before you. Calculate height of cliff, assuming boulder falls at a constant speed of 50 feet per sec.

3. Find anchor. Ignore trees near top of cliff and find solid tree at least half a metre in diameter. Safety first.

4. Fashion makeshift harness and ATC. Attack prussic to rope above harness ... but don't attach it to harness.

5. Start rap. Act surprised when calculations prove to be in error and rope doesn't reach bottom of cliff.

6. Start swing pendulum, while hanging onto prussik. Grab small tree on ledge with free hand, at the apex of swing.

7. Release prussik and while hanging from small tree with the other hand, reach into pack, extract knife and CUT THE ROPE. Admit that you usually don't like doing this.

8. Fortunately there's a path from small tree to bottom of cliff.