Pine Creek Explanation

A buddy and I were down in Pine Creek last September to shoot some scenery in the canyon. It was a busy day and we ran into this group of people. Most of them had never even rappelled before. They had two "semi-experienced??" Canyoneers and the rest of the group were rookies. Needless to say we helped get them down the canyon. Most of us have been in this situation before. There are thousands of people who like biting off more than they can chew and this group was one of them. I enjoy seeing people getting involved in canyoneering but I also like it when they do it safely.

I cant plead total innocence because on this particular day I was not wearing a helmet. But I did replace most of the webbing in this canyon.

As far as us promoting safety? You will see that half of our new videos going on the site (AmazingOutdoors.com) will be informative videos.

But we are in the business of making money and videos like the extreme canyoneering is what people want to see. They love living vicariously through idiots. Hopefully not at the expense of peoples life's. I will let you all know when we put the safety and technique videos on the site.

Thanks for your comments.

Jud _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

While I did not see this shamefull video myself (my computer informed me it would take 30 minutes to download the necessary upgrade...), I can conclude that they used the "face down" technique know as rock- running around these parts. This became quite famous after a few commercials - like a guy chasing a falling can of beer down a cliff... When we do this (not in a canyon, God forbid !) we always belay everybody from above with a second rope. The big problem we have is that in Europe no speciality harnesses are marketed !

Just kidding, but the technique does have some advantages, like it or not. The biggest one is that you can see where you're going. I don't know about you guys but rapelling "normally" gives me a stiff neck from looking over my shoulder (real wiiiide - the shoulders, not the neck !). Before the rockrunning hype started I naturally took on a rapelling position where I turn my waistbelt of my harness as far to the side as possible. This puts the descender almost at my side and lets me walk/run down rappels without any bother and with a clear view of what's coming. I don't do this for kicks, this is just my most efficient and comfortable rapelling position. The only drawback I've noticed is that you don't have any sideways balance because your feet are vertically positioned instead of side by side. For me, the ideal harness should have several tie-in points: one in front for slow, technical descents and another at the side(s) for smooth or fast runs.

Koen

--- In canyons@y..., "Adrenalin Sports" <adrenalinsports@h...> wrote: > A buddy and I were down in Pine Creek last September to shoot some scenery > in the canyon. It was a busy day and we ran into this group of people. > Most of them had never even rappelled before. They had two > "semi-experienced??" Canyoneers and the rest of the group were rookies. > Needless to say we helped get them down the canyon. Most of us have been in > this situation before. There are thousands of people who like biting off > more than they can chew and this group was one of them. I enjoy seeing > people getting involved in canyoneering but I also like it when they do it > safely.
I cant plead total innocence because on this particular day I was not > wearing a helmet. But I did replace most of the webbing in this canyon.
As far as us promoting safety? You will see that half of our new videos > going on the site (AmazingOutdoors.com) will be informative videos.
But we are in the business of making money and videos like the extreme > canyoneering is what people want to see. They love living vicariously > through idiots. Hopefully not at the expense of peoples life's. I will let > you all know when we put the safety and technique videos on the site.
Thanks for your comments.
Jud > _______________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

<font size="2" face="Courier New">Jud, you sure know how to humble a guy. After all the scathing reviews, you say "thanks"? Awful big of you and I hope you hang around here long enough to get something more positive out of the group. Come down to the Swell next weekend if you get a chance...</font> <br\><font size="2" face="Courier New">hank</font> <br\><font size="2" face="Courier New">----</font> <br\><font size="2" face="Courier New">P.S. Regarding my original review, I can say now say that the video simply did not reflect my (personal) feeling and experience of canyoning. In fact, the adrenalitic jam of the video seemed more suited to skateboarding, bungee, etc. than canyoneering. Probabably just an age thing as I no longer skateboard much. I am still learning to cope with gray hair in my beard! Just one guy's personal opinion.</font> <br\><font size="2" face="Courier New">Jud wrote:</font> <br\><font size="2" face="Courier New"><deletia></font> <font size="2" face="Courier New"> <br\>But we are in the business of making money and videos like the extreme <br\>canyoneering is what people want to see. &nbsp;They love living vicariously <br\>through idiots. &nbsp;Hopefully not at the expense of peoples life's. &nbsp;I will let <br\>you all know when we put the safety and technique videos on the site. <br\> <br\>Thanks for your comments.</font>