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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 18, 2008 - 07:21pm PT
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WARNING: The activities described herein were designed and rigged by an individual who has been certified as… (um, either a jumpmaster or insane, maybe both) who has made over 1000 jumps off a variety of objects. If you attempt to re-create this jump without knowing what you are doing, you will likely end up freefalling for over 11 seconds, hitting about 200 miles an hour, and being splattered over the jagged talus below. In short, don’t try this!
On June 15, 2008, Father’s Day, I was standing on the edge of a 2000 foot high cliff, the Northwest face of Half Dome, when suddenly a loud whistling sound, like that of a falling bomb, accompanied by an incredibly fast moving flash of an aerodynamic shape made my heart skip a beat. Diving down towards the valley floor 4800 feet below, hot on the heels of a slower bird, I realized it was a Peregrine Falcon. It’s pretty much my favorite animal; a good omen.
I checked the gear for the fourth time, and then stared down at the massive drop below me, twice the height of the Empire State Building. I looked to my left, over where the top of the mountain curves around and provides a fantastic view of the incredibly overhanging perch I was standing on, The Visor. I expected to see a half dozen of my friends. Instead I saw a crowd of perhaps 100 people watching me. So much for my hope that the boulders on The Visor would have given us some privacy so we didn’t create a spectacle. The people were lined along the edge of the cliff, like Indians about to ambush the cowboys in an old Western movie. Bows and arrows replaced by digital cameras.
What led to my precarious position? About a year previously I climbed the Snake Dike route up Half Dome with my friend Jason, and met another friend John on top to see if a Bungee Jump would be possible. John rappelled over the edge and made some measurements with a digital range finder. It was 170 feet from the top of the overhanging Visor, to where a free hanging rope would touch the lower angle wall below. I identified my biggest concern then and it remained in the forefront of my mind throughout the planning, would we hit the underside of the Visor when we rebounded back up?
But really it all started even further back, in my hometown of Danvers, Massachusetts which used to be Salem Village where they crushed one of my ancestors to death with stones because he refused to bow down to the man. It was the Blizzard of ’78, when the area got more snow that we had ever seen. I was 10 and my brother Rich who was 14, came to me and said I had to come down to our school down the street and check out the snow. The snow drifts were so high that they made it up to the 15 foot high roof on one end of the building. We climbed up onto the roof and then Rich led me to another side where the snow drifts didn’t form right against the building. 10 feet below and a few feet in front of us was a six foot high snow drift. Rich launched off the roof, landing in the soft snow. I summoned my courage and followed him. We then found higher and higher jump spots, culminating at the three story high cafeteria roof. The snow drift was 35 feet below us and 10 feet away from the base of the building. Between the snow drift and the building was a light dusting of snow on asphalt. Rich pushed off, just making it into the center of the snow bank. I was more scared than I had ever been, but somehow found the courage to follow him. I sunk up to my head in the snow and panicked for a second when I felt trapped in the snow. But I quickly trashed my way out, and headed right back up for another jump. But don’t worry; I repaid Rich by getting him into rock climbing and bungee jumping.
30 years later the plan for Half Dome was in place. But a week before our trip John informed me he wouldn’t make it. With 85 pounds of Bungee gear, plus cameras, food, etc., we knew we were looking at a brutal 17 mile round trip hike with almost a mile of elevation gain. So once in the valley we recruited Dave to help us. On the hike up Jason asked Dave why he had wanted to do an insanely tough ground breaking type of solo big wall climb he had completed earlier in the year. Dave’s reply with no hint of bravado or bragging was “Three out of four guys who have tried it died.” I knew we had found the perfect fourth for our little adventure. We also had a group of friends join us to watch, three who had never done any hiking before, and a trip up Half Dome was their introduction to hiking, and they all made it!
The day didn’t start too well. We took a wrong turn and lost about ½ hour. Then we walked past the last spring where we could fill up water and had to back track and waste some more time. We struggled up the steep cable route with heavy packs on our backs, and finally reached the summit.
I went to the edge and dropped a tape measure. I wanted to confirm the digital measurements with something physical. I saw the end of the tape getting close to the rock below and checked the distance. 150 feet?! Oh no! I couldn’t believe it; all the planning, all the preparations, all the effort to get everything up to the top of this huge mountain and now it looked like it was all for naught. I had built the bungee cord for a 170 foot jump. It felt like all the blood drained out of my body. I resolved to find out what I had to work with and started letting out more tape. The first thing I noticed was that the wall bulged out where the end of the tape measure was hanging. I moved over a few feet around a corner on the Visor, and the angle of the jump drastically changed. Just moving over three feet on top, put the end of the tape far from where it had been, over a bigger space. I kept letting more out. 160 feet. 170 feet. It hit 180 feet, but it looked awfully close to the wall. I left the tape hanging and brought Rich with me and we walked to where the spectators would soon be lined up. It was tough to tell from that angle but it looked like we might have enough clearance. We went to the other side of the jump spot and shimmied out on a rock that sticks out over the edge like a diving board. From that angle we could really see the jump space… it looked great!
Massively relieved we went about setting up the system. Four spring loaded rock climbing cams provided our primary anchor. We backed that up with a long rope going around a huge boulder. A thick rope ran from the anchor to the top of the bungee cord, which was hanging just below the lip of the overhang. A skinny rope was ready to ascend back up, or be rigged into a hauling system with a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage through pulleys if a rescue of an injured jumper was required. The ropes were protected from sharp edges. The system was thoroughly inspected and checked. Nothing left to do but jump.
Because I did not want to extend the bungee too far and hit the rock slab below, or rebound too high and hit the Visor above we did our first two jumps by rappelling off a rope hanging from the lip. I lowered myself down right next to the bungee cord, until I got to the end of the rope, then did something that is the worst fear of many rock climbers, I rappelled right off the end of the rope. After a short free fall I felt the familiar feel of the super strong bungee cord begin to arrest my fall. I rebounded up and kept an eye on all the clearances around me. Everything looked acceptable. I ascended the rope and my comment when I got to the top was “We are so golden. It’s perfect. It’s like it was designed for bungee jumping”. We raised the rappel line so Rich would get more freefall and I watched his jump from the side to check how close he got to the rock. Everything looked great. I was ready to jump from the top.
Normally when you bungee jump from a bridge you push off straight in front of you. This introduces some swing into the jump, lessening the impacts. But pushing off on this jump would be very bad. You would swing back in at the top of the first rebound and possibly spring straight up into the solid granite. I got ready to jump, turned sideways to the edge and hung one foot out over thousands of feet of air. The wind had picked up, but my old friend the falcon was still circling below. I was about to join him. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. I stepped off; accelerating from 0-60 m.p.h. faster than the most expensive sports car you could buy, the wind noise picking up to a roar, enjoying every moment of one of the most intense experiences of my life. I rebounded back to within 15 feet of the Visor. Close enough for a thrill, far enough for safety. After a few more rebounds with some back flips thrown in for good measure the rope was lowered to me and I ascended back up. Big smiles, high fives, and shouts of joy followed.
Rich, Dave, Jason, and I made some more jumps and had a fantastic time. The sun started getting low, so we ate some food and packed up. At the bottom of the cables I was already thinking about the next time. Anyone want to carry a 50 pound pack to the top of Half Dome?
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GhoulweJ
Trad climber
Sacramento, CA
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Jun 18, 2008 - 08:56pm PT
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Really grear job.
Talked about doing that in 1989... Never did... Happy it's been done.
Reminds me of a bungee jump we did in an unfinished elevator shaft... Swinging is bad
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climbrunride
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Jun 18, 2008 - 09:44pm PT
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Yeeeeee Haaaaaa!!!
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labrat
Trad climber
Nevada
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Jun 18, 2008 - 11:18pm PT
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Pictures please! Good fun!!!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 18, 2008 - 11:47pm PT
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This is, of course, a work of creative fiction. Magical realism and stuff - it didn't actually happen. We wouldn't want anyone to get their knickers in a knot without a reason after all. I mean, some NPS lurker might otherwise get the wrong impression, and think that someone actually DID what the story says. The next thing you know, they'd be putting up signs and issuing bans and doing enviroment impact statements and lord knows what else. And we wouldn't want that. So, all you lurkers, no need to get all worked up - it's all imaginary.
However, a reliable source says that "WB" and "#46" are planning a big hoedown this Saturday night in the meadows. Better check it out. :-)
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Jun 19, 2008 - 12:22am PT
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Kick butt....... Where's the photos?
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jaystone
Trad climber
EDH, Ca
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Jun 19, 2008 - 02:07am PT
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Scariest thing I've done to date. Awesome.
Rich on the last jump of the day
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
Castle Rock
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Jun 19, 2008 - 02:16am PT
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Was anybody on their way up the wall?
Probably would have scared the crap out of them.
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jaystone
Trad climber
EDH, Ca
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Jun 19, 2008 - 02:35am PT
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yes, they were watching and probably thought we were nuts.
I believe the question after they topped out was, "We're you the guys throwing your meat off this thing."
FYI, we stopped jumping before the leader left Thank God Ledge and traversed under the visor.
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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 19, 2008 - 12:25pm PT
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It was fully legal, I checked before we went.
We talked to a ranger on the way down who said "it was on the cusp".
There was no environmental impact, and I don't think anyone who was up there was bothered by it, so I don't know why anyone would be against it.
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howlostami
Trad climber
Southern Tier, NY
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Jun 19, 2008 - 01:13pm PT
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Holy hell! Keep living and sharing the dream!
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jun 19, 2008 - 02:32pm PT
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wow!
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couchmaster
climber
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Jun 19, 2008 - 02:42pm PT
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Awe friggan some! I'm crapping my pants now just looking at the single pic there. Name the movie "Balls of Steel". Even sitting on the Visor can leave a person uncomfortable.
Damn, you dudes rule!
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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 19, 2008 - 02:48pm PT
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A couple more photos.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Jun 19, 2008 - 02:49pm PT
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Man, this beats Charlie Fowler and Mike Munger's
jump of the Diving Board in Eldo. . .theirs was just
on a rope. . .
I guess I should congratulate you guys, but I've got to
go to the cleaners to get my pants cleaned. . .
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Anastasia
climber
Not here
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Jun 19, 2008 - 02:56pm PT
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I want to play!!!
AF
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TradIsGood
Chalkless climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jun 19, 2008 - 03:03pm PT
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I stepped off; accelerating from 0-60 m.p.h. faster than the most expensive sports car you could buy ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fastest_cars_by_acceleration
The first car on the list accelerates to 60 mph at about 1.12 g's by my calculations (level ground).
Making the same drop it probably would accelerate only a little bit faster than a human body.
:-)
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jun 19, 2008 - 03:07pm PT
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Kick ass!!!!
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micronut
Trad climber
fresno, ca
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Jun 19, 2008 - 04:19pm PT
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Holy Shizzle!
Holy sweet shizzle de dizzle, thats loco.
What did your anchor look like? Were you guys jumping off a natural gear anchor or a bolted one?
Balls like Choich bells boys, balls like choichbells.
Proud.
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Anastasia
climber
Not here
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Jun 19, 2008 - 05:19pm PT
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Laughing...
That won't work since jb and I broke up a long time ago...
Just email me from this site.
Big Smiles,
AF
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