Just call me Spidey

A few months ago, I saw a LivingSocial deal for a class at Hollywood Stunts in Brooklyn.  I thought it looked fun, so I asked a friend if she wanted to do it with me. 

There were three options that we could buy.  One was a high fall class, one was a trampoline class, and one was a rappelling class.  I told my friend I would not do the high fall one (I HATE the feeling of falling, so willingly jumping off of something is insane to me), but that I'd be game for either of the other two. 

We decided that the rappelling one seemed fun, so we bought it. And then we realized that the rappelling class was only offered once a week on Saturday.  Whoops.  Eventually, we found a date that worked for both of us and signed up. 

So, on Saturday, we headed off to Brooklyn.  First, we stopped at Smorgasburg for a random and super yummy early-ish lunch (I had a brie and ham sandwich on a biscuit with honey - so yum!).  It was a gorgeous day out, so we walked the 15 or so minutes to the stunt place.  Which was in a warehouse down some random alleyway right on the water in Greenpoint (cheap rent, I guess? I was actually kind of surprised that the area hadn't been turned into super swanky, expensive high rises yet).  Luckily, it was a nice day and bright out, and we also ran into others going to the same place.  Otherwise, it would have been kind of sketchy.  

When we walked into the warehouse, there was a high fall class and a trampoline class already going on.  I have to admit, both looked pretty cool, and when we saw the rappelling rig, my friend and I were both a little bummed that we might have picked the lamest thing to do. 

Thankfully, it was a lot more fun than it initially looked!  I've been rock climbing before, so I'm familiar with wearing the harness (and was able to get it on without any instructions!) and the feeling of rappelling, but this was much different.  Instead of your belayer being in control of your descent, as is the case with rock climbing, in rappelling, you're totally in control of your own destiny.  And, you had to climb up a not so awesome ladder to the top of rig, where the instructor then hooked you into the rappelling mechanism, gave you some instructions, and sent you on your way. Plus, you were wearing gloves to protect your hands from the rope, which made it a little harder to feel confident in your grip.

The funny thing is, for me, the most nerve wracking part of the whole thing was the minute or so that I was standing on top of the rig, no longer hooked up to the safety line they made us use while climbing the ladder, but not yet hooked up to the rappelling line.  Once I'm hooked into something, I'm fine with heights.  It's so strange, I know. 

We had a small class, so after a quick on-the-ground instruction of the basic rappelling technique, we each got to rappel about six times, trying different techniques each time.  The first two times, we did a basic rappel.  That means that once you're harnessed and hooked into the mechanism, you hold the free end of the rope behind your butt, and basically sit down on your hand.  You control your descent by loosening (or tightening, if you're going too fast) your grip on the rope, or pulling the rope away from your body a bit.  You use your feet to propel you away from the wall to quicken your descent. 

After mastering that, we got to the more fun rappels.  The first was a spin, where you push off the wall hard with one leg and spin around while you're away from the wall.  You just have to make sure you have enough momentum and space to make it all the way around and get your feet out before you get back to the wall.  Otherwise, you'll smack into it.  Which isn't fun. 

We also did the Spiderman.  Which is basically this.  Just try to imagine me in Spiderman's suit and you can see that we're totally long-lost siblings. 

This is a screen shot from a not-all-that-exciting video. 
Sorry for the craptastic quality.

Spidey was probably my favorite one to do.  Maybe because it reminded me of my aerial yoga days (errr, day.  Or hour). I feel like I'm pretty much an expert at using some sort of contraption to flip myself upside down. (I've also been training for this all my life - when I was maybe 6 or so, we had one of those trapeze bars on our swing set that also had rings at the bottom.  One day, I was outside playing with my sister who was probably 2, and decided to flip upside down and put my feet through the rings (I have no idea why I didn't just hook my knees over the bar like a normal kid).  Everything was peachy until I realized that I couldn't get my feet out (stupid shoes).  I told my sister to go get my mom, but she was 2 and apparently thought I was an idiot and she didn't want to help me, so she didn't.  Eventually, my mom came and saved me (obviously), but I still won't forgive her for that.  My brother also got me stuck in a tree once.)

The other rappel that we did was called the Tom Cruise (or the Australian - I have no idea why).  That's basically the Mission Impossible drop-face-first-from-the-ceiling-but-don't-touch-the-floor move.  Since you had to be facing down, we had to put our harnesses on backwards.  For anyone that ever tried putting their pants on backwards ala Kris Kross, you can imagine how uncomfortable this is.  Especially climbing up a ladder. 

But hey, I looked cool at least. 

I don't think I'm quite ready to quit my job and become a full-time stuntwoman (although, how cool would that be!).  And rappelling wasn't really a workout at all.  At least not like rock climbing, where you're actually doing more than just climbing up a ladder (although it was pretty much my workout for the day.  I also walked a lot, so I'm counting it!).  But it was a totally fun Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, and I'd definitely be up for some more rappelling, or maybe even a trampoline class.  Seat drop war, anyone?