Re: White Rim Road - Mice?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drew Wiley
My nephew had to rescue a chutist who jumped off the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. Took about 10 hrs to get them off the cliff, with the chute barely clinging to a tiny tree halfway down. That's a long long time to have both a shattered hip and extreme anxiety. He and a climbing pal just happened to be there on the face when it happened; but it took them two full hours to traverse over to where the accident victim was and at least get them securely anchored to rock. The full rescue took another 8 hrs. And since it was a rule-breaking incident, that person probably had to repay for the cost of the rescue, including helicopter expenses.
That’s pretty rough and that comes from someone who broke their pelvis and partially dislocated his hip on a base jump. Rescue was much easier as I was in an urban area. :) After that I figured I needed a safer activity which led me to large format photography. Still miss jumping but being busted up once is enough.
The jumper was very fortunate your nephew was there.
Roger
Re: White Rim Road - Mice?
Guess they made the mistake of looking down the face, which is dead vertical below the top, and not clearing it enough for the more tapered section of the face below, where they banged into the wall and apparently bounced awhile before almost miraculously getting the chute tangled in the only tiny tree up there, growing in a crack toward the corner of the face.
As kids we'd find some giant impossible boulder and spend a day or two piling leaves or pine needles at the bottom before climbing and inevitably peeling off. It was either that or serious free-climbing so high up that we recognized we'd be killed rather than crippled if we fell. No fancy gear or special shoes. We were just poor untrained hill kids out for a risky thrill. Some of us survived; some didn't.
The neighbor a mile away had a 500 acre sheep pasture adjacent to our place, with one tiny little pine tree out in the middle of it. The skydiving club from the nearest city would land out there without permission on Sundays. One Sunday afternoon I came back down from my favorite nearby climbing hill and saw seven skydivers out there all desperately clinging onto that little tree. The rancher had put his meanest bull in there to teach them a lesson, and just left them there until evening. Then he brought another person and two Jeeps. While the bull was charging one Jeep, he'd ferry out a few skydivers at a time with the other Jeep. They never came back.
Re: White Rim Road - Mice?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Roger Thoms
Oh and don’t forget about all the idiots jumping of the cliffs with parachutes. At least they have a short lifespan. :)
Roger
"If at first you don't succeed, sky diving is not for you."
Re: White Rim Road - Mice?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Willie
"If at first you don't succeed, sky diving is not for you."
;)