Just got back from Ontario where I had to re-certifyin all the safety courses neccarry for my line of work.Last year I worked mostly on the ground and never climbed or went up in the air much so I missed out on the rope safety course.This year Im a supervisor on the site so I had to take it.
Honestly I hadnt given it much thought before I got up there and started the course.Then it dawned on me this was actually something I may have to use one day to save one of my guys or myself if they go off the top of a tower or get injured, it kinda freaked me out a little.
Having never rapelled before I was nervous going up, and then they showed my what I had to do.They called it a pick off, basically I rapelled down, hooked my harness to the other guys, released him from his rope and finish the decent with another person attached to me and holding onto my feet.Im not scared of hieghts but backing off the top of a perfectly good platform did make me hesitate a little.But over the edge I went and actually did a fairly neat job of saving the guy without much problems.
I learned a lot of rescue techiniques while there, self rescue, rope rescue, ladder rescues, etc.. and did well, the president of our company was there and actually commented on how good I did, I felt pretty good about things then the instructor brought me back to reality when he said
"That was pretty good, now can you do it off a 300+ ft tower while someones lifes at stake".
I dont know that, the simulators only 30 or 40 ft up.Could I back off the top of a tower on a rope.Would I freeze up, could I make the right decicsions. I hope I never have to find out but people fall all the time, freak accidents happen every day, hell if theres a fire in the tower and your up top the only way down is your rope.I like to think I could, in reality 300 ft or so is a long ways up.Maybe Ive over thought it but its been nagging at the back of my mind for several days now.
When I took the job I also took on a degree of responsibility for the guys working under me, hope i can live up to it[:-]
If the time comes that you ever need to do that you won't even think about the height, adrenaline has a way of making things seem very doable at the moment. Just don't ask your coworker to hold your beer while you do it...
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Kevin Haendiges
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peta, I used to rock climb and caving way back in high school. I'll never forget that first sensation of my first rapell. It was freaky walking over the edge of the cliff. However since then, it just been something fun to do. You'll be fine when the time comes. I'm glad you got to go through it once.
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This is bugging me
