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Mammoth Trip, 2023

September 27

Trad School



Stella does her first rappel!

My first was in maybe 1976 with Outward Bound, where we had a wide sling rigged up as a harness held together with a single biner in the front. The rope came down through the biner, and around your back, and you held it loosely in your other hand. The friction on your back kept you from falling. Don't let go!

The rappel is so much safer now, and on this rappel on slab with the ATC in high friction mode, the descent was so slow that I had to push rope up towards the ATC to move down. The other hand is on the auto-block wrapped around the rope as a backup safety device, where you have to push it down the rope to be able to move. As Jo demonstrated, if you start to fall, just throw your hands in the air and the auto-block will stop you. -F.



I expected to find rappelling terrifying, but I actually didn't feel scared at all. Well, much. -S.