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Caving & Inverted Rappelling

Warsaw Caves, Ontario - April 04, 2010

Early season caving and trying some vertical rope techniques

  • The fantastic weather this long Easter weekend made a day of outdoor adventure irresistible, so I joined up with my wife Michelle and a few friends (Peter, Nicole and Victoria) and we all headed out to the Warsaw Caves. There are numerous charted and uncharted caves there and we explored 3 of them, but we couldn't get into some of the areas we wanted too because the spring runoff kept the water levels inside the caves a lot higher than we were expecting. Nonetheless, it was an awesome place to go caving with plenty of very technical, tight passages. Anyone with claustrophobia would've been screaming!
  • After the caves, we went to a nearby cliff face to practice some vertical rope techniques including Aussie style, forward facing rap-jumping and inverted rappelling where you start off with a normal rappel, then flip completely upside-down and continue down the rope.
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  • Great fun.
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    Squeezing through a tight section of one of the dry caves.

    Ah... Daylight.

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    Because it was still early in the springtime, the water levels in the cave were very high, and the water was freezing cold.

    I accidentally made a wrong turn and found myself in one section (not pictured) that was so tight, I had to remove my helmet to fit through and could only advance through while exhaling... And I only weight about 150 pounds.

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    Out in the sunshine now, practicing inverted rappel techniques

    The trick is to start off normally...

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    Then, flip yourself over and spin around so that you are looking straight down.

    The trick is to relocate your brake (right) hand properly, if not, you'll land on your face.