The Sensation of Falling

While I wouldn't say that I nearly fell to my death a few days ago, it wasn't until after it happened that I could properly evaluate the experience of freefalling. And, given the circumstances, I really only have one thing to say about it.

Cool...

After more than a year, I ventured back to the climbing gym. I knew that my technique had become quite poor (who am I kidding? It was ALWAYS poor), but I had the gear and a few more visits left on my ten-visit pass, so why not?

After a few easy climbs, I went over to a 5.7 that didn't seem too bad. Laurie was belaying me. I climbed to the top of the wall with only a few minor pauses. So I made sure Laurie was ready and I sat in the harness. As she lowered me slowly down, I kept my gaze slightly upward, watching the fake rocks as I passed them. Partway down, Laurie let the rope out a little too quickly and there was a short drop (maybe a foot) before I jerked to a stop. As she started lowering again I could feel the drop again, so I was ready for it. Only this time I didn't jerk to a stop.

I kept falling.

And falling.

And falling.

Until I realized that, hey, I'm kind of falling now.

And hey, that's the floor right there.

And I'm still falling.

And just like in the movies or in cartoons, about two inches from the floor, I stopped falling. My feet touched the ground as though I had meant to plant them there, and I felt Laurie next to me swinging about two feet off the ground.

In reality, it might have been maybe ten feet of falling, but of course in the moment it felt like forever and a split second at the same time.

Some guy (out of the half-dozen witnesses) came over and said to Laurie, "You know, if you lose control of the rope, you just have to let go of the lever."

You know, if you were watching carefully, she did let go of the lever. If she hadn't, I would have been a mangled heap instead of swinging with my butt two inches off the floor. But what you didn't know is that her first instinct was to grab the rope with her right hand, which unfortunately meant that she ended up with a pretty nasty rope burn while I walked away injury-free.

In the end, nobody got permanently hurt and there was never any danger of that happening anyway. Woo hoo for cushy floors.

And Laurie, for God's sake stop apologizing.

"At the end of the world, or the last thing I see, you are never coming home"