Copyright © Guinness World Records
We stumbled on a YouTube video not too long ago by Guinness World Records showing the fastest 100m Abseil (or rappel).
The record setting 8:99 seconds by Steve Truglia is impressive nonetheless, but when watching the video, a few things stood out to us as red flags.
First off, in the first picture it shows Truglia suspended over Centre Point Tower in London, which is at least 100 feet away from the building. It’s understandable that he’d be that far away from the building just in case he started swinging on the way down.
What catches our attention is the mere single carabiner, and the backup line attached to Truglia. A single carabiner in any load bearing situation is a big no no.
Thus far in our “Learn how to Rappel” series we’ve taught that when using a carabiner to “screw down so you don’t screw up.” It’s hard to say whether or not the locking gate is screwed down, but we’ve always been taught in a configuration like this to use two carabiners with opposing gates, meaning the gates only open in opposite directions (both still screwed down).
Copyright © Guinness World Records
It’s interesting they’ve chosen to go with a single carabiner here, and even more interesting that the backup line attached to Truglia comes from the rooftop and not off the crane extending him from the building.
If the single carabiner being used was to fail, yes, the backup rope would catch him, but to clear 100m (328 ft. 1 in.) in 8.99 seconds he’s traveling quite fast, and it wouldn’t be a good day for Truglia if the backup rope had to catch him and swung him into the side of the building sitting 100 feet away.
He’d become a giant pendulum in that situation, getting swung into the side of the building 100 feet away and most likely becoming severely injured if not dead.
Copyright © Guinness World Records
But wait! there’s another huge red flag in the setup of this rappel, check out this picture of the rope that will be fed as he descends! Can anyone say safety hazard?
That’s just asking for your rope to get tangled up. It never did in the video, but it makes you wonder how much Truglia and his crew really considered safety during this record attempting rappel.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add oneDiscuss in our Forum }
Never mind the fact he even missed the boxes. He didn’t need them, but in case he had…
I’m not sure I’m buying this video. I used to rappel out of helicopters for the Alberta Forest Service (Canada). We used a SkyGenie device, which is an aluminium shaft in the shape of a bone with a thin metal cover that slide over the device and rope. Due to wanting to limit the time spent under a hovering helicopter, and the fact that we had to penetrate the forest canopy, we tended to go as fast as we could without going out of control.
The first thing I noticed was that he was far too nervous; a good rappeller ought to trust their gear and not be questioning it. But that might have been for show.
The next thing that bothered me a bit was that his style was something I would chastise a rookie for. In rappelling that fast, one ought to have the legs bent in a telemark position so that your legs can absorb the impact if you come in too fast. If he had come in at full speed with his legs like that, he would have broken something. Note the bounce as he does apply the breaks. That is bad bad form. Also, no matter how fast you go, you must slow down in the last 5 to 10 feet, much like a plane flaring in a landing.
I could go on and on, as I used to be an instructor… but that might just bore people.