Saturday, December 19, 2009

Weiredest Bungee jump that hit the ground !

I might have not even attempted to rappel down those mere 35 feet. But when one of the Sr.Instructor asked me if wanted to try newly arrived automatic self belay device. I immediately said "Yes, why not!
The device was like a pulley with a switch. While switch is pressed & rope can pass, when switch released, rope was SUPPOSED to get fixed!
I Hung outside the 3rd floors corridor having myself anchored firmly on the rope.
Hoping that the rope will be released slowly, Pressed the Knob.
Zrrrr...
In spite of not keeping the Knob pressed, the rope did NOT lock! The law of gravity must have overpowered it.
In a split second i slid down the rope n my feet banged the ground floor concrete flooring. The moment my legs hit the ground, due to the impact, the belay got locked and I hung 1 foot above the ground.(That’s how my spine was saved!)
It took a while for our team standing around to understand what had just happened.
I tried to walk few steps. Acute pain rushed up to my brain as i took few steps. But I DID take few steps before collapsing just to assure myself that leg bones are still in place.
Actually there was a person to handle the main rope from the ground. Had he tighten or even crossed the main rope I would not have slide down so fast. Anyways, now there’s no point in playing the blame game!
Hearing the story & seeing condition of leg; Orthopaedic was sure that foot is fractured, till the X-ray gave us pleasant shock, showing NO signs of fracture!
Looking at the rope burn on hands & bandaged leg, million times I have re-visualized the moment of pressing the knob!

When I ask myself what did I feel while falling?
Two words answer is “RAW fear"