The last three years I have been training some employees of the Owyhee Irrigation District in high angle rope rescue , confined space rescue and rappelling. This is partly for self preservation. The Owyhee Dam is 45 minutes away from the nearest rescue team. Our team is available and ready on a moments notice. We cover a huge area.
Me on the far right.
I applied for and received a Safety and Security grant from our insurance carrier. This allowed me to purchase 4 mobile radios , two portable radios and two 600' ropes with bags. The radios are 128 channel programmable and compatible with local law enforcement and emergency services. This addition to our teams equipment greatly enhances our capabilities and range.
The long ropes and vital communications can be a great asset for our area.
Today I actually got to try out these bad boys!
There is a big blue tarp that blew up on the rocks on the south side of the dam. It has been there for over five years as best we can guess. In preparation for the 75th anniversary celebration this year, and as a good practice session, we made it a goal to remove it. This entailed a very treacherous area and a very long rappel.
I studied the line from below and decided to follow the "wash" down, then move over to the tarp. The line straight above the tarp did not look as good from the top or bottom. That circle is the tarp. It was about 20'x 20' and draped over a bush that had grown up through it too.
From below it looked like a pretty easy decent. Once on it that was obviously a gross mistake. It was really steep and lots of loose stuff. We found two places to stop and rest a little while untangling ropes below us.
The tarp was about 30' to the north of our line down. There was just not a better line from the one we took down. I climbed across a little above the tarp , but did not like the situation. Too risky.
I opted to go down parallel and work across the face to a position where I could reach it.
It is hard to see from the sun glare , but that is just after I got half the tarp cut loose. I am on the left and my partner , Mark is on the right.
It really was wedged tight and I could not get close enough to pull it loose. I ended up cutting it in half with my knife and tugging it loose a little at a time. I almost gave up a couple times. It took us nearly two hours to get this far. I really hated to leave it there.
I was able finally work loose the remaining half and kick it down as I rappelled down from that location. Mark was able to free my rope where it hung up and we proceeded to head on down to the power plant. The rappel took nearly three hours and was close to 500'. We took our time and stayed safe.
One of the guys used my camera and did not get enough photos, but I guess he was watching out for us and had never used a digital camera before.
That is the longest rappel I have done to date. Hopefully some day I will get to rappel the glory hole or at least the face , just for fun
A good day at work. Those don't come all that often. Enjoy them!
I personally selected the equipment we use. It is all good equipment and is very well cared for. I told him , and silently to myself 
...Trust the equipment. You must have faith. It will be just fine.
Wow that is some seriously rugged terrain. 
