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robbovius
Sep 10, 2008, 2:55 PM
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Lazlo
Sep 10, 2008, 2:57 PM
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That would be sweet to see that pulled off body-wrap/rap style. I'd be impressed.
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dingus
Sep 10, 2008, 2:58 PM
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That's a good picture - very provocative.
DMT
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lena_chita
Moderator
Sep 10, 2008, 2:59 PM
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Yeah, I always thought that landing on your head will mean that you would react quicker to whatever situation awaits at the bottom.
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sungam
Sep 10, 2008, 3:17 PM
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No doubt it's a confidence booster.
I'd hate for some dumbass to see it and try it at home, though...
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budman
Sep 10, 2008, 3:44 PM
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Gotta give him points, he's definitely watching the end of the rope!
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dingus
Sep 10, 2008, 3:47 PM
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A long time ago in a place far far away (Tennessee to be precise) I was learning to rappel and climb. On my own... out of a book. My childfriend Carl assisted me with this project.
At the time of this story we were 16 and had been 'climbing' for 3 years.
We were at Underground City, an 80 foot tall limestone crag that had once been a quarry. We'd rappel and top rope the stoney face, dig?
So one day as we were rigging a rap rope some dude drove up to the parking area, saw us and then hiked up to our position.
Turned out he was an Army soldier, 101st Airborne (motherfucker!) out of Ft Campbell KY, some 40 miles north of our locale.
He was polite enough and asked if he might 'do some rappelling' with us.
"Sure!" We said, enthusiastic to have someone TRAINED to show us how the pros do it.
So the dude promptly fills us with war stories about rapping out of choppers head first whilst spraying the countryside with his M16. Wow, we'd heard of this, even back in the 70s! (I know.... I know.... its true nevertheless!)
So our earstwhile solider proceeds to don the harness we had to offer - a 1-inch tubular swami tied as a diaper. OK he had some difficulty with that - not tyour standard army procedure, I can dig it. So we showed him how.
Then he states his intention to rap the face "Aussie-Style." To our surprise he clips his rigging in on his back and faces the fall line.
"Wow, we're in for a show!" I thought.
So our soldier buddy goes to the edge of the cliff. Because it was a quarry the top edge of the cliff was 10 feet of steep dirt; unstable, with tree root and loose rocks sticking out of the slope. This led to the edge of the cliff proper and a dead-vert drop to the ground below.
Aussie Rap Soldier Boy proceeds to the edge of the cliff and takes one, count em ONE step over the edge.
He promptly catches the toe of his soldier boot on a root and trips. Because of the angle of the dangle this throws his balance off so severely he topples over....!!!
FACE FIRST!
HEAD FIRST!
DOWN THE DIRT EMBANKMENT!!!!1111
See he was holding on to the ropes (good for him too - if he'd let go he would have died). So when he toppled over there was no way for him to raise his hands to protect the fall.
He face augered into the dirt - HARD!
BAM! A dust cloud came up. The soldier dude just laid there for a few seconds, head down, face down, on a 45 degree loose dirt slope, face drilled into the Dirt.
My buddy turns to me and says deadpan,
"Man those army bastards sure are tough!"
Then the dude started struggling furiously, trying to right himself like a stunned boxer trying to regain his feet and find his opponent.
He wasn't fully with it either and in hingsight he came very close to letting go just then. Woulda been bad news for us all (esp. him) had that happened.
As it was my buddy and I grabbed his rap line and bodily hauled him back up to the top.
Man was he SHAKEN! He had a big old contusion on the side of his face and a black eye was surely in the making. He had some pebbles and dirt embedded in his skin. He wasn't WILD but he wasn't entirely composed and in control of his faculties either.
He couldn't get out of that harness fast enough! He'd had enough of our country bumkin gear and country bumkin climbing talk and our country bumkiin cliff. I reckon there's no tree roots on choppers?
Anyway, that was my earliest introduction to "Army Style' rappelling, Aussie-Style as it is often described.
We were impressed.... such that I've never been motivated to try the same myself, go figger.
DMT
(This post was edited by dingus on Sep 10, 2008, 3:50 PM)
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sungam
Sep 10, 2008, 3:55 PM
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 As soon as I saw it was a long post from you, I knew it wuz gunna be good!
When is your book coming out? I reckon if you got a bunch of people to invest in it (editing costs from a % of the profit) it could work no problems.
Would be a fuckin' good book, too! You might not have to even write anything new, just shove all your posts from here back-to-back :P
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majid_sabet
Sep 10, 2008, 4:32 PM
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Dingus
You should write a book
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flipnfall
Sep 10, 2008, 4:49 PM
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I did that all the way down Devil's Tower with some friends. My hips were SO sore, but at least I can say that I rapped all the way down the Tower upside down.
GT
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stymingersfink
Sep 10, 2008, 6:44 PM
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sungam wrote: As soon as I saw it was a long post from you, I knew it wuz gunna be good! When is your book coming out? I reckon if you got a bunch of people to invest in it (editing costs from a % of the profit) it could work no problems. Would be a fuckin' good book, too! You might not have to even write anything new, just shove all your posts from here back-to-back :P
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chossmonkey
Sep 10, 2008, 7:38 PM
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flipnfall wrote: I did that all the way down Devil's Tower with some friends. My hips were SO sore, but at least I can say that I rapped all the way down the Tower upside down. GT
Even if you didn't rap down the Bowling Ally like most everyone does, the top rap of any rap route would be near to impossible to do that on.
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flipnfall
Sep 10, 2008, 7:57 PM
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Try it. It's not easy. It's very painful for that long but doable. And yes, of course there are ledges. I didn't just whiz by them. When you've tried it and can't do it, then let me know. I'm POSITIVE that you'll have another story after you try it.
GT
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granite_grrl
Sep 10, 2008, 7:58 PM
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flipnfall wrote: I did that all the way down Devil's Tower with some friends. My hips were SO sore, but at least I can say that I rapped all the way down the Tower upside down. GT 
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Lazlo
Sep 10, 2008, 8:05 PM
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Are you talking Autrailian or upside down?
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flipnfall
Sep 10, 2008, 8:05 PM
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OK. I'll go do it on a slab route sometime soon and take a picture for you.
GT
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flipnfall
Sep 10, 2008, 8:08 PM
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Talking about completely upside down, dragging my butt along the wall with the harness bruising my hips. I'm getting doubts about this accomplishment of mine. I was sore for a month, but my friend and I were able to say that we did it.
GT
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flipnfall
Sep 10, 2008, 8:17 PM
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRb83GHEgoA
This guy was doing it on a semi-slabby route for a short while and he doesn't even look that experienced. Notice how he talks about the pain. That's what I'm talking about. If you want pain. Serious pain, try doing an upside down rap for more than 400 feet.
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patmay81
Sep 10, 2008, 8:38 PM
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yeah, why not do an australian rap if you wanted the head first approach- seems better than a cheese grater head first down slab approach
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flipnfall
Sep 10, 2008, 8:54 PM
Post #20 of 33
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patmay81 wrote: yeah, why not do an australian rap if you wanted the head first approach- seems better than a cheese grater head first down slab approach
Because it wasn't about using my brains. It was about the principle of saying that I did it.
GT
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markc
Sep 10, 2008, 8:59 PM
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flipnfall wrote: patmay81 wrote: yeah, why not do an australian rap if you wanted the head first approach- seems better than a cheese grater head first down slab approach Because it wasn't about using my brains. It was about the principle of saying that I did it. GT
A lot of really stupid things could be done with that guiding principle.
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Chappy76
Sep 10, 2008, 9:32 PM
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Well those guys are Security Forces in the Air Force, so not the brightest. Just kidding. I'm AF too. Poor guys, they are stationed at Cannon AFB, NM. That place has the highest suicide rate in the Air Force.
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chossmonkey
Sep 10, 2008, 9:54 PM
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flipnfall wrote: Talking about completely upside down, dragging my butt along the wall with the harness bruising my hips. I'm getting doubts about this accomplishment of mine. I was sore for a month, but my friend and I were able to say that we did it. GT
Who took the gear?
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sungam
Sep 10, 2008, 10:28 PM
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Choss, you fell to the ways of the icon now, eh?
You should have used the bombz version, though.
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