Long Rappel

[LC/LR4Life]

Sounds like you guys had a good time. I have done a lot of rappelling over the years. I use CMI ascenders however, and Bluewater olive green 'assault line' for my personal rope. I guess you guys got a few 600 ft spools of New England (good rope as well) :rappel:

I've got a steel locking carabiner by SMC that's rated to 54KN which is pretty nice. Very overkill. I normally use a Black Diamond 'superlock' 28KN biner to rap with however.

 

[chrismc]

I just got back from a "long rappel" this past weekend. I was on one of the rappel teams at Bridge Day, Fayetteville, WV. 876 feet off of the New River Gorge bridge (http://bridgedayrappel.com/photos.htm). The only kind of rope anyone there was using was PMI Max-Wear. It is the standard rope used for long rappels, and caving due to its strong abrasion resistance. I used an SMS Stainless Steel 6-bar J-Rack.

Here's my helmet-cam video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=42Fg8bBcZOI

 

[BigAl]

Gotta love bridge day, the cavers look down and say "wow, this is high", the base jumpers look and say "wow, this is low." I went in the mid 90s, that place is a lot of fun.

 

[grahamfitter]

Way cool - definitely earns some pies and pints I've kayaked down the New River Gorge a number of times and always looked up at the bridge thinking it would be fun to rap off. Do they let you SRT back up?

Cheers,
Graham

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Very cool! By the way, this thread inspired me to get into rapelling.... unfortunately, so far, all i have is a harness and some 'biners. Working on getting the rest of the stuff. This weekend will be my first lesson.:wings:

 

[p1michaud]

Great day at work.

Wow, that is a great way to spend the day working!

:rappel:

Job well done and you had fun while you were at it. Can it get any better?

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[HenryJ]

It had been several years in the works. Yesterday we did it.
I had hoped to be able to rappel the face of the Owyhee Dam, and we were able to do it yesterday.
I organized a multi-agency rappel and tour. The size was limited and by invitation only. Agencies represented were:
Owyhee Irrigation District rope rappel and rescue team
Oregon Hazmat Team #14
Linn-Benton Hazmat #5
Albany fire
Ontario Fire
Nyssa Fire
Vale ambulance
Malheur County Sheriffs Search and Rescue

We started the tour viewing various permit required confined spaces. Discussing emergency access and procedures. Then a short tour of the Owyhee Dam Museum.
Following a safety meeting, we assembled at the top of the dam and prepared for a 417 foot rappel to the lowest observation deck.
Fourteen of us rappelled down in about two hours.

After lunch with a movie on the history of the dam a tour of the tunnel #1 hydro project followed by the ring gate control where went through how we would extricate someone from this area.
The day was a huge success. A once in a lifetime experience.
We were the first to do it. We rappelled what was , when it was built, the largest dam in the world.

I am still compiling photos. We only rappelled for two hours, but I have over 1200 photos and videos to go through. I am uploading some as I type to a google photo album: The dam rappel and tour 2009

P.S. Chris, you really missed out. It was AMAZING! Sorry you couldn't make it.