rappel on
14 September 2014
We were meant to have another nice weekend and I found a free “Mountain festival” to attend in Camp Long W. Seattle. When we first arrived we were underwhelmed by the lack of vendors, etc., but it ended up being quite fun for the kids. They were able to rock climb, rappel, catch spiders, have a tent setting up and taking down race, balance on a paddle board on exercise ball things and we watched folks on the challenge ropes course. The girls did not weigh enough to go on that but it was fun to watch.
The rappelling was quite fun for them. There is an actual training area for this. It starts out with a gradual grade and then got steeper. There was a person backing up the rope in case the kid let go so they would not fall. It’ll take some practice before they can do this on their own, but it was a good intro. Tim and I also got to hear Jim Whittaker speak. He was the first American to climb Mt. Everest. He of course had a very interesting life. When his kids were 11 and 15 they took them out of school for 4 years to sail around the world and had lots of fun adventures. I wonder how he made money to do all the climbing and sailing and such, but maybe if you are the first American to climb Everest you are set for life. Maybe if I had bought his book I would know. Oh well.
