People seemed interested in Bridge Day, so here is a photo of that event! Looking up from the bottom as a rappeller comes in on our rope, we can still see about a dozen other ropes in view. Some have dots of other folk, some are empty, but all have varying levels of wind belay / wind load. When you have an almost-900 foot long rope in free space in the middle of a gorge, it takes skill to manouver from the top to the bottom and remain in control not only because the rope weight changes but also because the wind load is constantly changing as well. This is why we use long frame rappel racks, so we can constantly and effortlessly vary the friction to adjust for these ever changing variables to remain in control of our speed of descent.

Yeah it's not my best photo, I probably should've focused on the person not the bridge haha, but its a good one that shows the scene.

#rappel #rappelling #BridgeDay #architecture #adventure #climbing

Happy #Friday to those fellow Hungarians, who also work today. Today it's the May 2., a Friday. It was a #BridgeDay after May 1., creating a #LongWeekend that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_weekend

Well, it's actually Saturday, and we work today to make that long weekend possible.

A few more #bridgeday action photos.

These were all taken with a Nikon DX format camera (APS-C sized sensor, 18x24mm) using a Ukrainian Telear 250mm lens made to cover 6x6cm format, and then cropped a fair bit from there. I always knew that my Soviet lenses were better than they had a right to be.

#photography

Twenty years ago, @mbroome and I joined our rope team, Extreme Rappels, for our first Bridge Day rappel (https://bridgedayrappel.com/). We've since gone on to longer and deeper drops - Fantastic! Golondrinas! El Cap! - but we keep heading back to WV almost every year to free rappel 850 feet to the river's edge below.

Rain or shine, cold or fucking freezing - there is no "warm" at this point in the day! - we get up at 0-dark-30, make our way to the bridge, and walk out the maintenance catwalk suspended under the roadbed. There is no other experience quite like walking along a 3' wide metal walkway with open metal railings on each side as the ground drops away underneath, til you're out on the W plate hundreds of feet in the air and it's time to put your weight in your harness, trust the gear and your own competence, and unclip that final safety tether.

We had a glorious bluebird day Saturday... Almost *too* gorgeous. I neglected to strip off my base layers before we started up the 700' ascent ropes, and the sun was blazing hot as soon as we cleared the treeline! But the views were incredible, and I'll take dripping sweat over pissing rain any day.

Every year it gets a little more expensive, and the logistics get a little more annoying, and I wonder if maybe we've done this often enough. And every year we go anyway, and it's *always* worthwhile. The friends, the views, the workout on the way up, the ride on the way down...

#bridgeday #rappel #SRT

Bridge Day 2024

Nikon d3400, ISO 400
Arsenal Telear 250 mm lens for Pentacon Six, with adaptor
1/1000 at f9.5
Cropped from the 2mp jpeg, so not really high quality.

#bridgeday #westvirginia #photography #basejumping

More to come later after I sort through them.

Nikon d3400, ISO 400
Arsenal Telear 250mm Pentacon 6 mount lens with adaptor
1/1000 at f9.5
#bridgeday #westvirginia #photography

Waiting in line in a parking lot for the shuttle out to the New River Gorge Bridge for #bridgeday 2024. Planning to spend a couple hours here then head on out to Sandstone Falls. If there's time after that, I'll ride up to see to the Glade Creek Grist Mill. It's a gorgeous day, supposed to get up to 76 and sunny.

#westvirginia #NewRiverGorge