Tennessee ParaRock Climbing

How many times do I need Mariyan to tell me to check my reserve handle? He has probably told me 100 times.

The wind was a little cross and on the strong side. I decided to do some kiting, hooked and did my routine check which included checking my reserve handle. Kiting was extreme challenge with the rotor. After 45 minutes of kiting and being picked up off the ground a few times, the wind died down or changed direction. I was able to kite with control. I put the wing down and thought if I do that again I’m launching. I brought the wing up and it was stable. I yelled to Greg I’m going.

As I was about a foot off the ground I heard something slapped around the ground. I look back to see my reserve on the ground with about 6 ft of line running to it. I said out loud, oh s*** that’s not good. I was worried about the reserve inflating and swinging me back into the Rock Cliff face. I decided to stall the wing as soon as I seen the reserve inflate. As the reserve start to inflate I noticed a very small ledge sticking out from the cliff directly below me. I pulled the brakes hard stalling the glider and dropping 10 feet down onto this small edge. I landed before my wing or reserve caught any trees and they just floated down into them. I was now standing next to a 10-ft rock cliff with only about 4 ft to stand on with a 60 foot undercut cliff below.

I called Greg and asked him to get my rock climbing rope and Grigri. My wing seemed firmly entangled in the brush above and I didn’t want to unhook until I was tied in somewhere else.

I was looking up the cliff face when a rock came whizzing 3 in by the side of my right eye and hit me in the butt. One of the locals showed up and thought it would be a good idea to throw a rock down to see if I would see it. I yelled up, if you guys are going to throw anything down let me know first.

After numerous attempts of throwing the rope down to me it was obvious they could only get it close but not all the way to me. I had to climb up some.To my left the cliff was only about 6 ft high. My wing was draped down this cliff and underneath it was a large old log. I had to decide to go under or over the wing. And then I was still attached to a bunch of lines and wasn’t sure if they were going to limit me from making the next step up. I found going under the wing was just more lines that get caught in so I went over. I had to find just the right hand and footholds and it took numerous slow methodical attempts to get halfway up the six feet. At this point I needed to grab on to the big log to climb over it. The log was angled across above me and I was worried I would roll it over on top of myself. I did some tests to see if I could move it and it seems solid. I was now able to climb up on a slightly larger ledge and retrieve the rope. Which they could not find anything to tie off to at the top.

From this ledge I was able to untangle my wing and reserve. I wrapped them up into my fast pack and started climbing. This was much easier and climbed the 40 ft back up to the launch site in no time.

It took about an hour to untangle the reserve lines from the paraglider lines. I kited them both and they look great. I just repacked my reserve for the 1st time.

I’m sure I’ll remember to check my reserve handle after future crazy kitting episodes. Now it is time for bed at midnight.