Ok.....my internet service was out for over a week and I'm just now able to update this story.
I did it!
My friends and family wanted to hear every last detail, so this is one LONG recap:
Thank you for taking an interest in my rappel adventure! Obviously, I made it down
safe and sound.
Now for the super-detailed play by play!
Well, my day started out by arriving at the SDSU gym at 7am for rappel
training and certification with Staff Sergeant Fowler and Second Lieutenant Martos.
They showed me how to tie a swiss seat harness out of a rope and I practiced rappelling
down the back of the bleachers - about 12ft high. I wanted to get the feel for
how to stop and go; but those two really wanted to see me bounce down instead of
just walk down. So, I went for a third practice run and made sure to try and get
some good jumps in.
Now certified, I had to wait for 11:30am!
I met with my dad and sister at 11:30am at the base of the library. Also in attendance
were several colleagues from my office and some staff members from the Army ROTC
office who all specifically wanted to watch me rappel (No pressure there! LOL).
Before I left, I greeted Captain Gladimiro Vasquez, the man on Belay, the safety/anchor
person at the bottom. The way I understand it, if I slip or fall, he's meant to
pull the rope tight in order to stop my descent. I shook his hand and said, "CPT
Vasquez, I trust you. I'll see you when I get to the bottom."
2LT Martos took me up to the roof where I was able to take in a great view. A gentleman
from the Army's 301st PSYOP company (Psychological Operations), who had been invited
to bring one of the special vehicle displays, hooked me up into a harness. A wonderfully
polite young man, Cadet Gutman, lent me his own kevlar/helmet to wear and assisted
me with getting properly set up. Then, Captain Cory Henry, the day's Rappel Master,
said, "Who's next?....Hey! Kelly looks ready! Get on over here, Kelly!"
Well....no turning back now!
CPT Henry ran me through the safety check and then explained to me how to step out
onto the ledge. Now, you really have to be up there to understand how awkward that
ledge is. It's bad enough to have to step out that high above the ground....it's
another thing to have to step out backwards onto a little "pillar" about 5" wide
and 8" long and then swing the other leg over onto the other 5" x 8" patch which
is about 4ft away. So yeah, you basically have to do the splits 90 feet in the
air with your feet on a piece of cement that is just big enough for your foot.
Doh!
To initiate the rappel, the Rappel Master hooked me to the line. I called out,
"WITT ON RAPPEL!" and waited for the response, "VASQUEZ ON BELAY!"
The Rappel Master is meant to hold onto the front of your harness until you've stepped
out. Of course, as I was just going over the side, CPT Henry let me go! And then
he said, "Don't look down!" Uh...yeah, right! I have to look down! I guess they're
used to people looking over the side and then freezing up and panicking. I thought
I was going to be scared; but, surprisingly, I wasn't scared at all. Though, I
wasn't too keen on CPT Henry letting go of my harness too early....at the most nerve
wracking moment nonetheless! The ridiculous part is having to lean backwards to
let the rope go taut and so that the brake can catch. One is meant to be leaning
pretty far back; so, CPT Henry kept telling me to keep leaning, keep leaning, keep
leaning.....
Eventually, I stepped off onto the main part of the wall and started on my way!
Almost immediately, CPT Henry encouraged me to start jumping and stuff. I called
back up to him, "Let me get a few steps down first!!!" LOL I swear, these guys
must think I'm an Airborne Ranger or something!
Finally I managed a couple of
bounces. If you look at the third photo, you can see CPT Henry in the upper right
corner looking really excited at my first attempts to get some air time. I remember
a couple of people all trying to give me instructions, but I wasn't really paying
attention. You know, I was too focused on the whole "dangling off of the library
and not losing my grip" thing. :P
Let me explain something, the part of the rope that I'm holding in my right hand
is the brake. As long as the rope is held at my back, I'm not going anywhere.
To go down, one has to bring the rope out to the right slightly - the more out,
the faster the descent. The rope/right hand is not ever supposed to be in *front*
of you. Otherwise, it'll suck your hand into the rigging and get your thumb all
crunched into the ring. Then, someone will have to come down and rescue you.
To jump out in one of those fancy arcs, one pushes off with the feet, simultaneously
flips the right arm out quickly and then brings the hand back to brake position
when coming back towards the wall. The thing is that the rope was some 150 feet
long. To flip out your arm, you must, in effect, lift the length of the rope off
the ground. The higher you are, the more rope there is below you. The more rope
there is, the heavier it gets. It was easy enough in practice, but the rope was
a LOT heavier due the significant height. Plus, I heard that CPT Vasquez (on belay)
is "Mr. Super Safety" and is so intent on never letting anyone get hurt, that he
holds the bottom of the rope a lot more securely than other guys. In that way,
it's hard to throw out the rope if someone at the bottom is holding it too tightly.
I eventually decided to just heave myself from the wall and really heft the rope.
>From the guys cheering on the roof above, it must have been a decent effort. However,
because I'm a beginner, and because the rope was heavy, I wasn't able to get the
rope back behind me in time to BRAKE. I managed to stop my hand in front of my
right hip! I took a second to collect myself, trying to get over the fact that
I nearly got my hand caught and to try and figure out how to get my hand back behind
me. As I was attempting to get my hand back behind me, I heard an over-excited
CPT Henry yell down, "Go on girl! Throw your arm out!" I looked back up and hollered,
"Let me get back on BRAKE first!!" LOL Yeah, like I'm going to jump again when
my hand is totally in the wrong place! Eventually, I worked it out and continued.
Halfway down, I glanced over at one of the windows. Some student was in the window
with a dumbfounded look on his face. I just sort of looked at him as if to say,
"Hey, what's up?"
Now, the library building itself has an overhang about 20 feet above the ground.
That means that, for the last 20ft, you have to lower yourself dangling free.
However, there's no way to gently step off the overhang - one has to jump off with
enough force to clear the ledge....or else you could face plant right into it!
When I got there, I decided to go for the gusto and launched myself from the ledge.
I kind of figured that if I ended strong, it would make up for any lame mistakes
I made earlier.
I made a 10.0 landing and the crowd erupted into applause.
The last thing to do was to walk backwards about 20ft in order to remove the extra
length of rope from the loop. After that I had to shout "WITT OFF RAPPEL!" and
flap my arms.
At that point, I kind of turned and saw Lieutenant Colonel Rideout standing there.
LTC Rideout is the Commanding Officer of the Department of Military Science - Army
ROTC "Aztec Battalion" here at SDSU. He took me by my arm and starting introducing
me to someone. I was a little confused at first, but I then realized that he was
introducing me to Colonel Johnson. COL Johnson, one of the special guest dignitaries
attending that day, is the Brigade Commander for the 14th Brigade Army ROTC. Honestly,
I was a little dazed from the rappel and don't really remember what they said.
Something about how COL Johnson is the Brigade Commander for all ROTC units in California,
Arizona, Nevada and Utah or something like that.
I remember thinking, "Boy, I just hit the ground. Does LTC Rideout *have* to introduce
me to COL Johnson right *now*?"
I thought that maybe he needed to go to an
appointment and wanted to say hello before they left. Then, I realized what was
going on.....I was being presented with an award! COL Johnson expressed his appreciation
for the work I put in to assisting with the coordination of their event and my support
of the Aztec Battalion. On behalf of the 14th Brigade Command Group, he presented
me with a brigade coin (sometimes referred to as a "challenge coin"). That was
really nice and very unexpected - an honor for sure.
My dad and my sister gave me a hug - it was nice that they were able to be there.
Though, they had to get going as my sister was going to be receiving some furniture.
So, after getting out of the gear, I walked them most of the way back to the parking
structure.
Later on that afternoon, we had the US Army Golden Knights Parachute Team land right
on campus and I got some more neat photos of the parachutists as they came down.
Last night, I noticed that my back seemed a little sore. I thought that maybe I
had a bruise. I looked in the mirror and discovered that I had a doozy of a rope
burn! It's not too bad; just about one inch long; but oops! hehehe...it's my little "war
wound".
In all it was a really fun week which was full of fun experiences.
Thanks to the people who supported my "Rappel for Relief", I was able
to raise a couple hundred dollars, which will go to assist the hurricane evacuee
students which San Diego State is hosting. Even just a couple of days ago, one of those students
called me up because she needed assistance with something. So, truly, the contributions
*will* make a difference.
Thanks for letting me share my experience with you! Here are the photos:
http://members.ispwest.com/navane/SDSUrappel.html
.....Kelly
And "ON RAPPEL!"
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