Rescued this lady from the side of a 410ft high skyscraper June 2008

I was working for a company called "Over The Edge" which does rappels off of buildings to raise money for charity. in this case the tallest building in Grand Rapids. they have a weight limit of 270 pounds and this Damsel weighed in at 320. they let her go because she paid a donation of $2500. I was the safety officer for the company and the event and they sent her down while I was taking a very needed 4 cup of coffee break. When I got back she had gone down about 30 feet and had jammed her rappel device (a petzl STOP). We first tried a 4:1 then a 6:1 haul but I felt that it was too hard on the anchors, gear and too much of a risk to keep going with the system so I nixed it.
I decided that the best way was for me to go down and and effect a rescue on the side of the building. (BTW, while I was getting ready to go she hurled. dang if there wasn't a big lunch all over the side of the building.
When I got down to her I had to transfer her onto my lines (I used biners to attach her waist loop to mine and her sternum to mine so I had her sitting in my lap. I had to then detach her from her line and complete the transfer and then rappel with her the rest of the way down. She was up for 34 minutes so the parameds had to check for suspension trauma.
Your right John, the Fire and Police never let anyone near a rescue situation here but having a lot of guys who never rappelled off anything over 30 feet high thy happily deferred to me. So thats the F

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Kevin Nye December 15, 2009 at 5:30am

Makes life meaningful.
Dean Boonstra December 15, 2009 at 5:06am

Only in fairy tales do girls get rescued from towers. This Damsel got her money's worth and the dream of her childhood. Too bad about the vomit.
Frank Abissi December 15, 2009 at 4:34am

I was working for a company called "Over The Edge" which does rappels off of buildings to raise money for charity. in this case the tallest building in Grand Rapids. they have a weight limit of 270 pounds and this Damsel weighed in at 320. they let her go because she paid a donation of $2500. I was the safety officer for the company and the event and they sent her down while I was taking a very needed 4 cup of coffee break. When I got back she had gone down about 30 feet and had jammed her rappel device (a petzl STOP). We first tried a 4:1 then a 6:1 haul but I felt that it was too hard on the anchors, gear and too much of a risk to keep going with the system so I nixed it.
I decided that the best way was for me to go down and and effect a rescue on the side of the building. (BTW, while I was getting ready to go she hurled. dang if there wasn't a big lunch all over the side of the building.
When I got down to her I had to transfer her onto my lines (I used biners to attach her waist loop to mine and her sternum to mine so I had her sitting in my lap. I had to then detach her from her line and complete the transfer and then rappel with her the rest of the way down. She was up for 34 minutes so the parameds had to check for suspension trauma.
Your right John, the Fire and Police never let anyone near a rescue situation here but having a lot of guys who never rappelled off anything over 30 feet high thy happily deferred to me. So thats the F
John Richeson December 14, 2009 at 7:54pm

WTF was she doin on the side of that high rise with a hard hat on? Was this an arranged rescue practice session?
Usually the fire dept and police don't let anyone near a rescue situation. At least around here.
Dean Boonstra December 14, 2009 at 5:25pm

Wow, Frank! I'd like to hear the rest of the story.

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Rescued this lady from the side of a 410ft high skyscraper June 2008

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