Essays

Moseying: Outdoor Recreation Activities

You too can dangle from a cliff – rappelling is fun!
June 21, 2006

“Out of 2500 people I have taught to rappel, you are one of only a dozen people that I have not belayed after your second descent.” Richard Galle told Olivia Whitaker. Whitaker did not even suffer from “sewing machine leg” the first time she went over the edge of the rock. “Ninety-nine percent of first time rappelers are so nervous about trusting the equipment and the belayer that their legs quiver uncontrollably. Experienced rappelers will still get it – but from fatigue.”

Whitaker is a member of the Permian Basin Outing Club (PBOC). “The club is for a lot of “firsts” for me. I get to do things that I have always wanted to do. The club’s canoe trip to the South Llano River was the first time I canoed.” She moved to Midland in September of 2005 to work for Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management after graduating from Baylor with a Business Administration degree. Her parents, Janet (Johnson) and Terry Whitaker are mid 1970s Midland High School graduates. Whitaker grew up in Ruidoso and Waco.

“I like to go horseback riding on trail rides, and as a kid I rode on ATV’s, and jet-skied. I also have participated in team-building “high-ropes” courses. We have always gone hiking – I love being in the out-of-doors.” Whitaker told us as we drove over to Big Spring State Park.

Superintendent Ron Alton had given us permission to come take a few photographs for our website of Whitaker’s lesson on the State Park property. “We have the nearest cliff for you Midlanders – it might be 18 feet tall!” Alton had chuckled. He had previously taken Sibley Nature Center brochures to display at the park, and was happy to post information about the Outing Club as well.

Alton has been working with fellow Big Spring resident (and PBOC member) Sammy Hunnicutt to start a Master Naturalist chapter for west Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife administer the Master Naturalist Program and its members do volunteer work for state parks and conservation groups, after taking 75 hours of instruction about their regional and state ecology. If you are interested in the Master Naturalist program, call the Sibley Center at 684-6827 and we will relay the information to Sammy. The group plans on holding its first class in September. (The classes will meet once a month for nine months and cost $75.)

Whitaker had volunteered to be the model of a novice rappeller in our efforts to promote the Permian Basin Outing Club and a rappelling class at the Sibley Nature Center on July 11th from 6.30 to 9 p.m. The Permian Basin Outdoor Club will be going to the Davis Mountains later this summer for a camping and rappelling trip. The PBOC has a full calendar of trips planned for the rest of 2006. It is a region-wide club – it has members in Colorado City, Big Spring, Midland, Odessa, Andrews, and even San Antonio. For $20 dollars Galle will teach the basics at the Sibley Center and will provide the equipment and more instruction on July 15th in the Davis Mountains.

“Tie this tube webbing into a diaper sling, like so, and use the ringbend knot that you learned as we drove. Join the loop of the diaper sling into this locking carabiner. After you rig the rope like so on this eight ring, clip it to the carabiner. There… now you are rigged, but I am going to hook a belay rope to you, so there is absolutely no change of you falling.” Galle worked quickly. “Never step on a rope, and don’t store it near gasoline – climbers never share their ropes – your life depends on them. A good Pearlon rope like this costs seventy-five cents a foot, so this rope was a 120 dollars. ”

“Now stand backwards on the edge… and then lean backwards, and let out a little bit of line. Good. Do it again.” Whitaker did so, and after she was almost perpendicular to the cliff, Galle told her to take a step down. She went down smoothly and easily, and immediately wanted to do it again, and again, and again. “Lots of first timers want to do it over and over,” Galle commented. Whitaker took a misstep on her fourth descent, but it did not scare her. She swung to the side for five or six feet and quickly righted herself and looked up grinning. “It is easy to regain control!”

Galle learned to rappel when he served as a “long-seasonal” ranger for Big Bend National Park. As we waited for Whitaker to climb back up, he told me, “They sent me to heli-tac school, vertical rescue school and fire school. We mostly rappelled on the rescue team, but we also rappelled out of helicopters. I taught a climb school for Midland College’s Continuing Education Department for 17 years – 6 weeks of 2 classes a week and a field trip to the Davis Mountains.”

Galle helped design Comanche Trails Park in Odessa when he was the superintendent of the Odessa Park Department. He also ran the Plainview YMCA for ten years. Because of his 29 years in non-profit leadership positions, the Sibley Nature Center hired him on a contract basis to teach me administrative skills.

“I love teaching folks about rappelling and other outdoor adventure skills. It is wonderful to see people build their self-confidence. I did not start out to change lives (I just wanted to meet people interested in what I was) but some of my old students have told me that the activities taught them how to trust themselves and others, and that learning to rappel was a seminal point of their lives.” One of his students (Chuck Lohn) now owns Hangdog Expeditions, based in the Metroplex. “He is one of the few people ever to summit Denali Peak in Alaska on their first try.”

To sign up for the rappelling class, call the Sibley Nature Center (684-6827) and ask for Richard. “All it takes are a pair of sticky shoes and guts!” Join PBOC too!