the.com/rappelling
controlled falling, rebranded as a sport and sold to people with rope.
means Descending a steep face such as a cliff or wall by sliding down a fixed rope in a controlled manner, usually with friction devices and a harness.
from From the French rappeler, 'to recall' or 'to call back' — the same verb behind English 'repeal.' The mountaineering sense is essentially 'to pull the rope back down' after the descent, since the rope is doubled around an anchor so it can be retrieved. French climbers gave us the technique and the word; English borrowed it (often spelled 'rappel') in the 20th century. Rappeler itself traces back through Old French to Latin appellare, 'to call upon' — a cousin of 'appeal' and 'appellation.'
- origin
- French 'rappeler,' meaning to recall or pull back
- military use
- soldiers rappel from helicopters in seconds flat
- the danger
- most accidents happen at the anchor, not midair
- reverse cousin
- Australian rappel descends face-first, staring at doom
- record drop
- longest rappels exceed 1,000 feet single-rope
el capitan half dome — climbers rappel down granite walls in yosemite valley, california daily
denali west buttress descent — mountaineers rappel the 20,310-foot peak in alaska using fixed anchors
moab utah canyoneering — desert canyons like keyhole canyon feature rappelling drops up to 100+ feet