[Jamin Smitchger]

I finally got around to going on my first hiking trip since I moved to Pullman. For my first exploring trip out of Pullman, I decided to climb Widow Mountain in the St. Joe National Forest. Luckily, I met a intrepid guy named Sunil at the WSU Alpine Club meeting. Sunil had literally no experience climbing mountains, but he had done some gym climbing at the climbing wall at WSU. We were finally on the road by 6:45, and we reached Clarkia, Idaho at about 8:00. From Clarkia we took FR 301 about 23 miles to the trailhead; however, before we reached the trailhead, I saw some steep rocks on Frostbite Ridge. We climbed up practically every rock in sight. Some of them were 5.8-5.9ish, but most of them were not really exposed. This was a good thing because we are both too poor to purchase any protection. I was not able to get up one slab without a boost from Sunil. It took me 6 tries, but he did it in one. Widow mountain is little more than a big hill 6828 feet high. There is a trail to it even though it is not shown on the map. After we climbed it (almost no views because of fires), we decided to spice things up a bit and do some rappelling into Lost Lake's cirque. Since we are too poor to purchase carabiners, we used the dulfersitz technique, and I have the bruises, rope burns, and blisters to prove it. In case you didn't know, The dulfersitz rappel is the most vile rappelling technique that exists. I didn't know that at the time because I had never tried it before. One of the first lessons that I learned was that I should never let my brake hand off the rope. When I did the second rappel, I had figured out that I did not need my brake hand on the rope in order to slow myself. Then I rapelled off an overhang, and I came down very fast. I tried to slow myself by grabbing onto the rope, but I just got 3 blisters for my trouble. By that time I had gotten enough practice and wanted to get back to the trail as soon as possible. However it seemed like the easiest way down was to rappel. We did a couple more 40 foot rappels, and we soon found out that we had rappelled down to a wide sloping ledge between cliffs. There was no way we could return. The only way we could get down was to rappel. The cliff was about 110 feet high and my rope is only 50 meters long, which had to be doubled to rappel. Fortunately there was a ledge about 75-80 feet down, which appeared to lead to safer ground. I figured that we could rappel down to that ledge and be done with it all. We lowered down the rope, and I went first. The dulfersitz rappel requires a lot of strength. At about 30 feet down, my arm could not hold the rope anymore. At that point, I was in free rappel, and I had no contact with the rock. I stopped the rappel and used my brake hand to hold the rope. I swung there for a while until my strength returned. I finally reached the bottom, and I found out that I had exactly 3 feet of doubled rope to spare. This was the longest rappel that I have ever done. My partner did the rappel also. I was notified that he was coming by a small rock which whizzed by my head. I quickly got out of the way. About 20 feet from the end of the rope, He dropped his wallet, which tumbled down to the bottom of the cliff, scattering its contents. From the ledge, we did about 30-40 vertical feet of class 4 rock. There was no way we could have done any more rappelling because there were no trees or rock horns. We paused at Lost Lake and took a break. It had taken 3 hours to descend 600 vertical feet. This was the scariest trip that I have done this year.

[MtnGoat]

dulfersitz is the most treacherous and life threatening rappel known, suitable, as you have now found, only for raps which do NOT contain free sections (feet not in contact). Otherwise, the rope tries to untwist itself from your body, and in doing so take away all contact with the only friction surface it is traversing, your body. not a good combo. you are a darned lucky fellow. It may have not only been the scariest trip this year, but the last trip you were ever on. A harness, some proper braking devices, a copy of Freedom of the Hills, and some classes on what the heck you are doing are way cheaper than the deceptive cheapness of just going for it... and nearly killing yourself.

[Jamin Smitchger]

I actually do have a harness and a copy of Freedom of the Hills. That is where I learned about this rappelling technique. I do believe that the dulfersitz can be used for free rappels. One thing that I would recommend for free rappels would be to run the rope through a very tight chest strap. This would prevent the rope from unraveling from your body. I actually used the chest strap on my backpack to help me for part of the way. It helped very much. One other disadvantage of the dulfersitz is there is quite a bit of friction where the rope runs over your body. Because you will feel a bad burning sensation from the friction if you go too fast, I would recommend wearing thick clothes. I actually did a couple of rappels with the rope running over my bare neck. I have a severe rope burn as a result. Due to adrenalin, I really did not feel very much pain during the trip.

[gyngve]

The original post here has got to be a troll. There's no way he would have gone rappelling any more after receiving the first round of rope burns.

[Tazz]

it is true go look in the partners forum.

[gyngve]

Maybe the location and partner are true, but the stories of the raps must be greatly exaggerated. "One of the first lessons that I learned was that I should never let my brake hand off the rope. When I did the second rappel, I had figured out that I did not need my brake hand on the rope in order to slow myself. Then I rapelled off an overhang, and I came down very fast. I tried to slow myself by grabbing onto the rope, but I just got 3 blisters for my trouble." My suspicion is that letting go of the brake hand would make it nearly impossible to regain control, and even if one did after gaining speed, there would be serious ropeburns. No one sane would voluntarily rappel again after such an injury. btw - what prior experiences did the folks have to rate their "solos" as 5.8-5.9?

[gyngve]

[Tazz]

I am already in enough trouble for opening my mouth so I will let form your own opinions. here and here.

[gyngve]

[gyngve]

[Jamin Smitchger]

I now have 11 carabiners. That trip convinced me that I needed them. The rocks were 5.8-5.9ish (I think), I haven't done too much rock climbing but that would be my best guess. Some people would have rated them higher. There wasn't much of a grip on them and some of them were slightly overhanging. Hey guys, let us stop the Jamin bashing here. I admit that I have done many foolish things in the past, but you guys don't even know me. You are making judgments on hearsay. I am sure that Mike, Stefan, Justus, and most of the other climbers out there have made decisions that could have resulted in their death. I am sure that they have learned from their experiences as I have. I am not out to commit suicide like you think.

[gyngve]

I fail to see why you are so keen on mentioning that the rocks were 5.8-5.9. Have you ever climbed at Index?

[Scrooge]

gyngve said

[Jamin Smitchger]

You are probably right. I guess it seemed just pretty scary and difficult at the time.