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.   Great fun.

Squeezing through a tight section of one of the dry caves.	Ah... Daylight.

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.

Out in the sunshine now, practicing inverted rappel techniques	The trick is to start off normally...

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.

 

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