[pct-l] pct-l Digest, Vol 36, Issue 22

[Timmy Fearn]

>  " Of course,  if you're lucky  and fall the right way, even an 
> inexperienced hiker may be  able to self
> arrest, but if you fall backwards and/or upside down, you could be  in 
> real trouble.  I can imagine, it's not the easiest thing to do without 
>  first practicing."

Sly, I agree that it is good to practice arrest from all manner of 
bazar positions.  Also I would recommend to practice the 
anticipation/acceptance/control of the actual act of falling.  Learning 
to recognize those 2 seconds when "yes in fact I am now irretrievably 
out of balance, I accept this and am now looking for the safest fall 
line, and engaging the muscles that can throw me into the best landing 
possible".  It's something that I carried over into general 
mountaineering from rock climbing.  When conditioned to respond at the 
level of instinct I have been amazed at the speed with which the 
proprioception will come to the rescue.

  Laters
>