VR Practice In Serendipity Canyon

This was an opportunity to play with the not so lightweight vertical rescue gear while one of the team members was getting assessed! The temperature forecast was above 30˚C: it would be great in the canyon but I was not looking forward to the climb back up!

We set out early and were soon enough near the first abseil. We built a rope system to “assist” a member down to the creek near the anchor of the first abseil. While we were deploying the ropes at the first abseil, a commercial group arrived and by-passed us. We went through the first and second abseils and caught up with the commercial group. We made an anchor around a boulder and started to abseil in parallel with the other group. The guide and group were friendly and we spent the day passing each other…

We followed the creek to the fourth abseil. The commercial group was already there so we suited up and had morning tea. Three of us went through the abseil while the person being assessed had to do a pick-off rescue. I was to do mine at the fifth abseil. We had to wait for the commercial group to go through and my “casualty” noticed that we were going to work under a waterfall. By that time, I was starting to get cold as we had been waiting and grumbled about my glasses getting wet – next time I will wear the sombrero! We decided to do the rescue at the sixth abseil! Once this was done, I found a spot in the sun and tried to get warm. 

While waiting for the rest of the team, we abseiled down to visit the glow worms and had to prusik back up! From there we crawled along the ledge to the rock platform overlooking the Wollangambe River. And then it was the dreaded long hot walk back up to the RFS station but we made it! 

A good practice for me although I would rather be on a single rope than double ropes…