Cheating Death

I promised I would tell all about my rappelling experiences. 

• Cheating Death Numero Uno: I went rappelling for a Young Mens/Young Womens activity.  I had gone before and LOVED it, so I was feeling pretty confident on my way down.  One of the older boys had put me in the harness (I was about 12/13) and as I was about one foot down the cliff, my bishop reached down, and yanked me back up to the top.  He had seen my harness starting to come undone.  Thank goodness he had caught me when he did, or I might have slipped right out.
• Numero Dos: We went rappelling for Girls Camp.  I was complaining because they were making us wear helmets, and I thought I was all big and bad and experienced.  My third or fourth time down the mountain, I was bringing down a smaller rope.  I had it draped around my shoulders.  The rope fell off and (before I continue this story, in rappelling, you have a brake hand, the hand that's back behind your bum) and I let go of the brake hand.  Slid right on down, about twenty feet, bouncing and tumbling, before the person who was belaying noticed what had happened and pulled on the rope.  
• Numero Tres: It was July.  In Nevada.  This means, it's blazing hot.  I and a couple of friends wanted to go rappelling, but we were going to have to wait until dark, otherwise the rock would burn our hands and feet.  All anyone thought to bring was a little spelunking helmet (the type that you always see the cartoon moles wearing, the helmet with the little light attached to the front).  I was headed on down the mountain, wearing this lovely helmet, and my hair got caught in the carabiner.  Before I knew what had happened, the rope had pulled my hair right up to the scalp and my head was stuck down by my waist.  I was hanging by my hair, literally.  Thankfully, there was a tiny little ledge that I could kind of hunch down on.  Somehow, one of the boys climbed up to me in the dark (I'm the only one with the light) and cut off half of my hair with some box cutters he just happened to have.  I remember thinking "I have to go back to BYU and I'm going to have some nasty boy's haircut."  I had another blessing, in that my hair was parted on the side, and the majority of my hair was on the other side of my head.  The girl who cut my hair and fixed it had never ever heard a story like mine.  Strange to say, I got the most compliments I have ever gotten on a hairstyle after I got it cut.  

When I told Aaron I wanted to go canyoneering with him, his dad and brother, he pulled a face and said, "You're not serious are you?"  (I had told him all of these stories).

**I am one of those people who feel like I have to put on a brave front.  I didn't think I was scared, until I got to the first rappel, and then I wanted to vomit.  I thought I was going to die.  There were so many things that could go wrong.  But, I must keep up my persona of being a tough girl/tomboy.  Later, I found out that Aaron's always scared on the first rappel too. 

I really enjoyed it.  We did a canyon called Birch Hollow (don't ask me why its called that, because I saw 0 birches) just outside of Zion's National Park.  The canyon was really fun, but the hike out, not so much.  It was uphill, dry, dusty, and hot.  Again, I put on tough girl persona and struck out ahead.  I heard my brother-in-law tell Aaron that I was an animal, but really, I just wanted that stupid hike over with as fast as possible.

**never go with just men.  They had the worst gas ever.  Stuck at the bottom of a narrow canyon, it smelled like a sewer.  It was horrible.  Too bad Tyler didn't bring his girlfriend along.  Then they would at least have exercised some restraint.