0
This topic is locked
I like to do a class with Colorado Mountain School every time I can spare the time so this time I chose a half-day anchors and top-rope class. I wanted to learn how to set anchors and learn to rappel for two reasons, 1); anytime I can do things to work on my exposure fears it is a good thing and 2); I spend enough time doing maintenance and setting augers on our grain bins there are times it could be beneficial to be roped up to access certain areas of the bin and to minimize chances of falling in frosty or other hazardous conditions. I have a friend that was severely injured from a grain bin fall. and hey I could deduct this one. I met with my instructor at the CMS headquarters and then drove to the big rocks near Mary's Lake. My instructor Brian demonstrated correct anchor building technique and then it was my turn to duplicate the setup. It was interesting and quite fun and after learning the redundantcy and safety of the techniques my fears were quite allayed. Brian then built an anchor on top of a 40ish foot tall rock formation, gave me instruction, we checked each others setups and then he was quickly was over the side. Now my turn, I had clipped the rope into my atc, setup my prussic auto-block before Brian left and now I tentatively eased over the edge with a little trepidation. With my focus on the task at hand my fears quickly faded and soon I was down. Brian asked if I wanted to do it again, and I headed back up, hey this is cool. That ended the hands on portion of the class and Brian drafted me a gear list I could use at home or in the mtns and I dropped him off with my thanks and headed to the room. Feeling cheap I picked up a frozen dinner and nuked it while awaiting Lynda's arrival just minutes after. Day point 5 in the books.
Edited by JDgreen, 17 September 2011 - 09:30 PM.
