Abseil Trip

Last weekend we ventured over to Sheffield in South Yorkshire as @bingbabe decided she wanted to abseil down a 12 story building for the Red Cross charity.

I’m always up for these events but count me out of participating in this one as I’m not one for heights.

It’s been years since I crossed the Peak District National Park and literally over 30 of them since I was on the ‘Snake Pass’ A57 that joins Glossop to Sheffield.

Snow was not what I was expecting in October. It wasn’t bad or sticking but you really don’t expect it, yet snow was what we got while crossing this windy high altitude road.

We parked up in the city getting raped at £8 for 2 hours in an NCP Car park and made our way to the Owen building in Sheffield Hallam.

You could just join in the fun without pre-booking and I’m sure some were doing so. A few people walked past me the spectator, looked up and expressed an interest.

Fancy dress was the code of the day, though @bingbabe and her friend were in casual clothes. Supergirl and Batman were among the visitors this day.

45 minutes later I was freezing my balls off waiting for them to start descending the building. Some of the previous participants looked like on the verge of bailing. If I was freezing, what was it like up there?

Others were taking an age to come down too, more like ab-crawling. One bloke was doing the James Bond tactics of kicking off the side of the wall and descending 15 feet in one go.

He was doing well until a mistimed kick swung him around a little too much. He was lucky to not crack his shoulder on the wall.

Finally @bingbabe (left) started her decent with her friend (right). They did well and didn’t take too long to get down. We even got some kicking off the wall from both before they reached the bottom. Not bad for a first attempt.

What’s next? She wants to do another building in Leeds next year. This one is over twice the height. Sounds fun.