tonight's random internet question

[swan_tower]

Abseiling/rappelling without mechanical aid (i.e. by wrapping the rope around your body): I'm guessing there is a high likelihood of bruises around your ribs or waist? Especially if you aren't experienced?

Any other tidbits of information on that sort of thing are equally appreciated. Rope burns on the hands? Etc.

(Yes, I just sent Isabella over a cliff. It's not the meanest thing I've done to her -- but that will surprise no one.)

Comments

[sola.livejournal.com]

If she didn't know anything about knots beforehand, I'd wager the rope would end up tightening around her ribs a lot. It also takes some experience to figure out how to walk/bounce down the rock face; torn-up knees, if nothing else.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

She's being assisted by somebody who's more familiar with the process; would that save her from the knots tightening? Or do they need managing on the way down?

[sola.livejournal.com]

No, it should be fine then; it's not hard to tie the correct knot for a situation. You just have to know what you're doing. Heh.

[leatherdykeuk.livejournal.com]

Rope burns!

[logovore.livejournal.com]

1) Most of the weight is supposed to go on the thigh loops, although I see more complaints about hurting at the waist than at the thigh.

2) There are some nice videos on YouTube. What they leave out that I was always taught to remember: with rope, as opposed to webbing, and with a potentially rough (fast/sudden stops) trip, your skin will be a lot happier with multiple loops to distribute the load.

3) Raw hemp is the scratchiest thing ever, if for some crazy reason Isabella is getting her harness on bare skin. (Which is a different thing than rope burns.)

4) Someone else tying a suspension harness onto you is very much the opposite of modest, if you and the other person are the kind to notice it when somebody else's hands are draping, looping, tightening, knotting and adjusting things in the very immediate vicinity of your genitalia.

5) There are other people, possibly some who will comment and correct me, who know a lot more than I do. But until they chime in, I'll do.

[logovore.livejournal.com]

http://www.brmrg.org/images/knots/seatharness.php looks a lot like the one I was taught.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Actually, with further Googling, I think what I actually mean is something more like this (http://whatwouldninjado452.blogspot.com/2010/04/novelty-rappelling-with-just-rope.html) -- no carabiners or anything of the sort (like I saw in the pic you linked), just rope. Still very much the opposite of modest, but Isabella's in trousers already, and one of the other two people there is her husband.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Raw hemp is the scratchiest thing ever, if for some crazy reason Isabella is getting her harness on bare skin. (Which is a different thing than rope burns.)

Not only scratchy, but the last time I handled Manila rope (which isn't technically hemp but is hemp-like) in the gym, I was picking little splinter-like rope fibers out of my palms and fingers afterwards.

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

AUGHH, yes! Rope splinters are the worst!

[greybar.livejournal.com]

Inconceivable!

[teleidoplex]

When I went rappelling as a teenager as part of my AFJROTC days (Yes, I did want to be an Airborne Ranger with a life of sex and danger. No, I did not have any idea who 'Charlie Kong' was or why I wanted to kill him, as per the song), they made us a rope diaper, slapped two d-rings on that sucker, gave us gloves and another rope to hang onto (threaded through said d-rings), and sent us down the tower. It was awesome, and I did it all afternoon. I bounced and dropped just fine, very little fear, no skinned knees or rope burns. I think my dance training helped, because I intuitively understood how to hold my body perpendicular to the surface I was dropping down. That being said, it was a flat wooden tower, not a rock face. But... yeah... I've done the full setup and rock face as an adult, and I think the one I did as a teen was actually easier/better.

Leave it to the military... they know how to get shit done with very few props.