WR's Blog: Almost died at Armour meat

[White Rabbit]

I don't usually post my blog entries in here, but this one is probably a good cautionary tale.

LINK!

[KansasCity]

Umm, when did this happen? I remember reading this a long time ago.

[White Rabbit]

Yeah, I posted about it on the forum right after it happened.

[godfather]

That is wild. Glad it turned out ok, and maybe you learned something from it.

[ropingk]

you nwo i think 80 feet is way to short for a parachute to open

[Sertile]

When you die I want your grappling hook and rope ladder.

[gimpface]

About that grappling hook...

Hypothetical question: If you had had your grappling hook with you during the incident, would it have been possible to hook it to the edge of the chimney where you were sitting and do a short rapple down past the bad rungs? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think if I ever have the misfortune to find myself in a similar situation this is what I would try, since I lack the balls to just climb back down (just reading about it made me cringe).

[godfather]

Sounded to me like the top lacked both the width (two bricks would not hold much), and strength (sounds like the mortar [sp?] had about the sticking quality of sand) would not have allowed that. Although, it would have been at least an extra option to try as W's options were very limited.

[White Rabbit]

About that grappling hook...

Hypothetical question: If you had had your grappling hook with you during the incident, would it have been possible to hook it to the edge of the chimney where you were sitting and do a short rapple down past the bad rungs? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think if I ever have the misfortune to find myself in a similar situation this is what I would try, since I lack the balls to just climb back down (just reading about it made me cringe).

Well, the grappling hook probably would've attached to the lip, but I never would've tried it. Those bricks at the top were loose enough that, even after I knocked away most of the bad ones, I wouldn't have trusted them to hold the grappling hook.

The only thing I can think of that might have worked is if I had taken my rope and made a big lasso out of it and just put it around the entire top of the smokestack. The only reason I didn't try that, though, was because that still would've required me to go about 3 feet down the smokestack on my own before I could start rappelling. I didn't really trust myself to do that and then be able to futz with the rappelling stuff on the ladder.