Absailing, Canyoning or Repelling!

Whatever you prefer to call it, we did it!

We spent the last few days in Dalat, which is a nice mountain retreat towards the middle of Vietnam. Katie thought resembled Estes Park with jungles. There are a lot of differences between Dalat and the south of Vietnam. Among other things, the temperature was much cooler than the 95 degrees we were used to in Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta. We even had to pull out the sweatshirts. One unique aspect of Dalat is the abundance of waterfalls and canyons that converge in the area. This provided a perfect environment for our next adventure...absailing. This was a term that I was previously unfamiliar with and for anyone else who does not know it involves canyoning and repelling down waterfalls.

The day started out early with hiking through some canyons and jungle hillsides. We soon came to a beautiful waterfall that provided a great backdrop to learn and practice our repelling skills. On a five meter rock we learned the skills we needed to safely make our way down a rock face. We would also learn a few skills that could save our lives “IF” we experienced problems on our decent.

Nex, we found ourselves hanging over the edge of a rock that was 18 meters (roughly 55 feet) high. Everything went well and so we packed up our gear and headed for our next challenge. This involved jumping into the cold mountain river and floating down stream to our next rock face. Along the way we got to slide down some rocks that formed a natural water slide. We found out later that the group behind us found leaches all over their legs after their river swim. Luckily Katie and I possess a camouflage to the likes of the leach due to our light colored skin.

After successfully completing a second repelling on dry rock we moved to the last repelling challenge on the trip. While enjoying a picnic of fresh fruit, bread and cheese by a 25 meter (75 feet) waterfall we were informed that the waterfall was our next challenge. Me being the adventurous man that I am, I suggested Katie go first to check out the ropes!!! Our first two descents went great. I had a few mishaps at the beginning but quickly overcame the slippery surface and water pounding in my face to finish the decent. Since we had some extra time we decided to do it again. This is when the problems started. On Katie’s decent she was doing superb until the end where she slipped and fell hanging in the direct flow of the waterfall. She had to negotiate the water and ropes to regain her stance to finish the decent. She recovered quickly, just as we practiced, and it provided some great pictures and video.

Once Katie was safely down, I clipped in to the safety line to hook up to the repelling ropes. As I started down the rock face I slipped and fell. This somehow crimped the emergency rope that left me unable to decend further. After I regained my stance on the rock face, I signaled to the instructor that I was stuck. I was glad we had practiced methods on how to not fall off the rock, but I did not know how to free myself from ropes that prevented me from descending. With the water pressure hitting me and fatigue setting in, I was unable to climb back up. The instructor had to come down the waterfall and try to assist me in freeing myself from the emergency ropes. If he succeeded this meant I would not have a back up rope if my primary rope failed. Luckily, we found another method. Both instructors had to secure a new rope to my harness so they could disengage the faulty rope. During this time I got to practice the "rope leg tie technique," that enabled me to free my hands during the 30 minute ordeal and support the instructor as he repelled down the rock face below me. I was sure glad that he weighed only 45 kilograms, I fear any more weight may have been uncomfortable with him supported solely on my leg. After this ordeal was over we got to jump from a 10 meter rock cliff into a beautiful emerald green lake waiting below.

Neadless to say this experience will provide some interesting stories for years to come.