Friday, July 2, 2010

Family Reunion 2010 - Rappelling Adventure

As an exciting conclusion to our family reunion, Wes took a bunch of us rappelling at Cougar Cliffs just outside of St. George. Not one of us had any idea what to expect. I was thinkng it would be a 50, maybe 75 foot rappel. As it turned out - this was no small rappel. 130 feet at least! This turned out to be quite an adventure!!


Most of our group had never rappelled before so Wes gave some instruction as he disappeared over the edge. It was difficult to see how far it was to the bottom so at this point, no one knew quite what to expect. Brother-in-law Steve was to be the coach at the top of the the rappel. He was awesome!
Who wants to go first? The 9 year old boy with the broken arm. I was so nervous for him but I could tell he was trying so hard to be brave. I don't think he realized quite what he was getting himself into until he was over the edge. Yikes!!!
But he did great and was so brave!
Next to go was cousin Nick. Doesn't he just look like a rock-climber? He looked like a natural as he back over the edge. At this point none of us at the top had seen the cliff face so I decided to hike down to see what was what.
Whoa! This is the cliff. See those teeny tiny people at the bottom?
I got the most pictures of cousin Jake because after that it got too dark. Here he is backing over the edge.
On the way down...
Doing great!

Pretty intense for a first time rappel, don't ya think?!
Can you see the little speck that is Addie?
My amazing sister Amy was the last to go but it was too dark to take pictures.

Here are the brave and awesome rappellers!!! It was quite an accomplishment and we were so proud of them.

We stopped for some cold drinks before we headed home for a night swim. It was a great way to make the most of our last day!

Those that weren't rappelling were lizard hunting. We came home with two lizards - named "Fernando" and "Sam." I think this is "Sam."



6 comments:

The Harrises said...

And here it is. Nice to think we were talking about it yesterday and here are the pictures. Yes Isaac was very brave to go first. That is quite the first step off the cliff.

Anna said...

CRAZY! Weston is the adventure king. I don't think I would have the nerve for that. Pretty impressive that Addie and Isaac did it.

Anonymous said...

Emily,
Looking at you and your family is deja vu (sp)
I see you and Kip----Your mom and dad do the
best family reunions!
Looks Incredible. Loved being with you during Memorial Day! What a Great Family!
Love you Guys!

Elisabeth Edmonston Clark said...

That's an adventure we're sick we missed! Our love pours out to Weston for planning such an exciting activity - and to you, for beautifully recording it.

Kip said...

Wow, wow, wow! That cliff is huge! I think I'm glad I didn'g to to this activity since I even get a little pit in my stomach when Wiley Coyote looks over a cliff in the old Roadrunner cartoons. ;-) I did some rappelling a long time ago, but nothing like this. I'm so impressed at all of the kids in the family who did this.

Jennette said...

Crazy and brave!! And you're so making me miss Utah.