Knots were a crucial part and extremely important skill for almost any task be it rappelling, climbing, anchoring, or belaying. We learnt the figure of eight, hitches, bowline, reef and fisherman knots, anchor knots etc. Not only did my butter fingers need to be tamed for making them quick and crisp, knowing which one worked better was also critical.
Joining two ropes, making a self-anchor, using a carabiner, anchor- everything needed a specific knot which had a certain amount of friction, movement, strength and flexibility. Make it a fixed knot and you will not be able to move, make it loose and might not be able to stop.
It had very interesting applications. For instance, while rappelling how do I control my speed? What if there is an overhang or dangerous portion on a rock?
I might need to stop and traverse horizontally to the portion where I can maintain contact with the wall or stop a sudden, rapid fall which the belayer also might find hard to control.
Pull the rope from the break end (the one that was going down) and lock it, 90 degrees to the body so that you stop moving. Only one hand will be free- but that still wouldn’t allow you to put a rock piton or move horizontally to avoid the overhang. So what do you do?
With one hand locking the rope at 90 degree, one had to take the remaining rope and pass it through the belayer, cap it on the portion above, seal with a knot. And you are hands free!
At first, I didn’t feel confident. A small manoeuvre such as this could take the weight off and I could be suspended like that in mid air. Seriously? And did I execute it properly? I leaned back a little and loose ned my breaking hand a bit, leaving some slack rope. Nothing moved.
I loosened my grip further. Left one hand and then slowly released the other. I was free!
It felt like defying gravity and my body was super light. I could look around, move horizontally, survey the rock face, look down to actually see how high up I was, egg on others who were at the edge on the top waiting and somewhat hesitant to start their descent.
Rappelling appears like a dance once you get it- have good contact with and control over your feet and speed and you can bounce off the rocks easily and descend in no time. It is effortless.
Read more: What motivated me to start this series?
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