Cincinnati Museum Climb
Saturday, 11 October 2008
The annual “Batfest” at the Cincinnati Museum provides an invitation for the local cavers to rig ropes from the top of the >35m high dome of the museum to put on a display of prussiking, rappelling and other fun stuff. The ropes are rigged through small holes in the ceiling using lengths of fire hose as rope protectors and are belayed to the iron framework above the art deco ceiling. The sense of exposure at the top of the dome, and the fact that there is a crowd watching what is going on, makes doing the changeover at the top a nerve wracking experience. After 5 or 6 ascents I was truly knackered and starting to get jealous of the local cavers who are mostly using some very efficient and fast rope walking rigs.
Some piccies in the caving USA gallery.