ffffffA friend comes over from London and asks for a refresher on certain techniques, 'advanced, mediocre or just plain nonsense' I ask.
So you can teach abseiling very easily, I just did it infact to a English international footballer, anyway. What kind of test, small cliff, large cliff, loose as Feck cliff , a cliff where if you fail to get down and get back up again you are down there until the fishes consume you kinda cliff?
So the teacher abseils into the sea because its a bit steep at the bottom so even he has to pass the swimming while overloaded with gear sea landing! This was funny, I have sense of humour, perhaps not yours, perhaps I won't get many people asking for testing, but until you abs into the sea while overloaded with gear you dont really appreciate how hard it is, for some the 'failures it will prove impossible!
This is my student arriving with my fins and mask, it was a very select place to swim for an hour! If you look closely he is abseiling with a protection prussic knot, this is good he got points for this. He lost points for the bag being on his back it should have been clipped between his legs to stop him being tipped backwards. I abseiled with out the extra safety, why (?) because I was going to be in the water and might need to get off the rope quick time.
6 meters below the top, student is all smiles. I had heard a few swear words floating up earlier, I did not mark him down for these.
The sun was going down as the student topped out, I think and he said he had learnt a few things. I should hope so, rope work, safe abseiling, safe Jumaring are critical skills, you may learn the principle on a few meter high rock or tree, but you need to do something a little bit harder and a little bit more punishing of your mistakes. Experience is not gained at the bouldering wall, and I am not knocking climbing walls but you know I speak the truth, the trick is of course surviving your experience, or your apprenticeship.
