Wednesday 9 June 2010

Glad to be alive

Today I had as close of a call one can have and still get back home alive. I was sport climbing with friends at a super nice cliff, up a via ferata trail. It's an "up in the air" and exposed place where you think twice when moving around. After warming up on 6b+ and 6c+ I looked at a nice looking 7a line. I went for an onsight and at the top I was tired, without any quick draws left (I usually use one or two quick draws to attach myself to the chain). I clipped the chain with my locking carabiner and threaded the rope, grabbing the chain and prepared to lower off. Looking down at my harness, only holding the chain with my left hand, I see that I'm not attached to ANYTHING. This is about 40 meters up and I clip in the figure 8 knot in to my locking carabiner and lower off feeling like shit and quite shaken up landing on the ground.

Lesson: ALWAYS LOOK TWICE AT WHAT YOU DO AT THE BELAY. You can never be too safe!