Harness on….. helmet on…. gloves on…. rope on…. safety line OFF…. and all I needed to do now was to LEAN BACK!

My heart was pounding and I felt like vomiting. My knee-caps were trembling and my legs felt like jelly!! I took a big breath. I asked myself what was I afraid of?

Perhaps what I was doing went against what one would call ‘survival instinct’… because leaning out over a sheer cliff 50mts above the next horizontal surface isn’t exactly what one would think as being something without risk; or ‘safe’… but I want to push the boundaries of my experience – within the realms of ‘best practice of safety.’…. and I weighed up the risks and recognised that my fear was based on a perception rather than an actual danger.

So …there I was…. about to lean back and I this little voice said – “Just keep trusting in yourself”.

I had taught abseiling 30 years ago, so I drew on my knowledge and scanned the ropes to check the knots. One figure of 8 looked a bit dodgy… but it was messy rather than unsafe. I scanned my harness. Good.  Carabiner. Not done up. When my Figure of 8 device was replaced with my rope through it, I think my guide was distracted and forgot to tighten the carabiner. “Trust in myself”. I knew what to look for. I checked everything that I felt I needed to check… and I leaned back… Trusting in myself that I would be fine. Now it was time to ENJOY!!!