On August 4th, 2014 we took a small band of Boy Scouts to Jennings Cave. During the trip we had a bottom belay in addition to a top safety. Near the end of the trip one of the adult leaders mentions that he used to rappel out of helicopters when he was in the army, years ago. He asked if he could take a rappel using a figure eight for old time sake.
After he rigged up I mentioned that he should keep his brake hand down by his hip to avoid it getting caught. He thanked me and said that he remembered while getting into position for the drop.
You may notice in the video that he takes his brake hand off of the rope and grabs the rope in a death grip, to no avail. Fortunately, there is a ledge about 10 feet down that he hit, rather than falling headfirst into the 28 foot hole. There were no injury’s, even though I thought I was going to have a hart attack.
Thanks to Jim Smith for doing the filming. As scary as the video is, Jim’s commentary makes the video hilarious. Make sure your speakers are on.
View the video… Here