The Death Brake
–rakkity
It was a beautiful Spring day in Boulder, and Maggie and I were in high spirits as we headed up the Bluebell trail toward the Third Flatiron. Maggie Herz was a grad student in the Physics Dept, I was a 2nd-year grad student in the Astrogeophysics Dept, and both of us were hiker/climbers in the CU hiking club. I had my 50-m rope, and she had hers. We needed two of them because we planned to do the famous 50-m (165-ft) free rappel off the high point of the 3rd Flatiron down into Poison Ivy Gully. Each of us had been up on top there before, but neither of us had rappelled off the 50-m cliff. When I had done the Flatiron climb the year before, it was with one of my teachers, who showed me how to do a body rappel off the back side of the Flatiron, where the drop was only 25 m, so it could be done with a single rope. The body rappel had been invented at least 6 or 7 decades before, and it was still being done even now in the enlightened age of 1967 because braking carabiners hadn’t been invented yet (or at least Yvonne Chouinard’s Ironworks factory wasn’t supplying the stores). But the ever-inventive Rocky Mtn Rescue folks who hung out with the CU Hiking club had invented a system of 3 carabiners that worked fine as a rappel brake–so long as you put them together correctly. continue
Lots of photos out there of your rocky playground.
“…and you’d plummet to the ground as if you had no rope.” And all that is left is you furiously flapping your arms.
You didn’t sit in a bar afterwards talking about what might have been??
Comment by michael — March 6, 2006 @ 7:34 am
There is another story about the walk down that explains why we didn’t go for a drink and talk about what might have been.
We were approaching the trail from the rappel landing point, almost into the woods. The descent was gradual–about 15-20%–and not a climb. Maggie tripped on a tree root, and went flying through the air, landing on the only clear space in the woods, but about 10 feet down. She couldn’t move. She felt like every bone in her body was broken. I shouted for help (no cell phones in those days), and someone below answered. They came up, and went for help. The Rock Mtn Rescue guys came up in about an hour, during which I tried to keep Maggie comfortable. The RMR guys carried her down in a litter, and to the campus hospital. She had no broken bones, but was bruised all over her body. I sneaked beers into the hospital for her over the next 3 days, when she was finally released. No casts, no slings, no crutches, just sore skin and muscles. After that trip she stuck close to her graduate studies, and didn’t climb any more.
Comment by rakkity — March 6, 2006 @ 10:14 am
So, this explains why you’re going to Colorado next year? I think I must be missing something.
Comment by Jennifer — March 6, 2006 @ 8:11 pm
Rakkity, a welcome respite from Racketball Tales, and a gripping story well-told.
Had the same thoughts as Michael — “What, no 6 weeks of processing what might have been”? Your follow-on only partially explains that. And how could she have not been able to move, and have only bruises?
I, too, have rapelled off a much lower and tamer NH wall (with son Greg on a Boy Scout Summer camping trip), and recall the adrenaline of going over. Have no clue what the brake setup, however. Only that it was a rush.
Comment by smiling Dan — March 7, 2006 @ 9:14 am
How could she have had only bruises and not been able to move? I’ve never understood that either. But maybe she had a minor concussion, too, although the docs didn’t tell me anything. I was only the friend, and never got any information, except what Maggie told me.
As for the ‘biner brake screwup. At the time were both oblivious to the possible meltdown of the system. The backwards gate just seemed unsafe, not necessarily fatal. I only reviewed the possibilities recently when Mike prompted us Mainecourse bloggers to come up with near death experiences, and it occurred to me to actually mess with the system and see what could happen. My pictures only show a possible scenario. To actually test it, sometime I should go rappel off a cliff with the Death Brake, and let you know what happens :-(.
Comment by rakkity — March 8, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
Pick a short rappel over deep water, Rakk …
Comment by adam — March 8, 2006 @ 5:03 pm