Rappelling in Moab

About a week ago, one of my friends in the accounting program who I also happen to work with asked me if I wanted to go to Moab with a group of people for the weekend and go rappelling off of a 120 foot arch. I already had some plans for Saturday night, and debated whether or not I wanted to go, but in the end, Sarah and I decided this was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So, my cute mom dropped off some sleeping bags for us on Friday and then we headed out!

We slept the night in Price canyon at a little campground near the top of the mountain. Sarah and I ended up just sleeping in her car and it was much, much colder than I thought the night would be. But it adds to the adventure, right? The next morning we headed to Corona Arch, in Moab, Utah.

At this point, I was asking myself if I really was going to rappel that thing! It was much taller than I thought it was going to be and I'm not scared of heights, but it was still pretty scary to me. We split into two groups and I was in the second group so we just watched everyone in the first group go. I decided that, no matter how scared I was, I knew I would regret it if I didn't do it, so I harnessed up and got ready to go once the first group was done.

We first had to climb up some rock to get over to the arch. It doesn't look to bad, but it was pretty steep and a little scary too!

Up top, it was pretty nerve racking. I kept thinking, "Am I seriously going to do this?!" But yes, I did, and it was so much fun! I would definitely want to do it again.

Funny story though - right before I went, I asked Justin, my pro friend, if my gloves were going to be ok because they were a little big for me. He said I would be fine, so off I went. Well, I shouldn't have asked because about 10 feet from the ground my glove got stuck in the device and I couldn't move up or down. For the next 30 minutes, our group and a bunch of random people helped me try several different things to get myself down. To what could be a very long story, I eventually was able to transfer my weight from the carabiner on my harness to another carabiner. And then I was eventually able to get down. Mind you, this was quite the long process. Lesson learned? Pay attention to my right hand and don't let it get close to the belay device!

Here's the remains of the glove that got stuck.

Funny and embarrassing, but I guess it at least makes for a great story, ya? Here's our whole group at the arch. It was such a perfect day!!