Yeah, they could probably get you for trespassing. Unless maybe you paid to park first, then you might have a decent argument that you weren’t trespassing.
Then there’s the whole liability issue, but that’s something else all together.
Dropped off the northernmost edge of Concrete Central last night… In the dark… I had most of my rigging done while it was still light, though…
What a rush…
Some Ian Kley pics from last Sunday:
To give you an idea of the height… (the grain elevators at concrete central are higher, though)
And Jake B dropping off Concrete Central… His SECOND time rappelling ever…
This looks awesome. I’m definitely going to try this, but I’ll probably start with something way less intimidating than what’s in those pictures.
I’ve been watching youtube tutorials and reading up some. I might have to try this shit out, but you guys have a big head start on me now. LOL. I’ve never done this shit before and don’t know if a monstrous drop would be ideal to learn on. 
I’ve been watching youtube tutorials and reading up some. I might have to try this shit out, but you guys have a big head start on me now. LOL. I’ve never done this shit before and don’t know if a monstrous drop would be ideal to learn on.
dammn newman…your crazzzy but looks like alot of fun… you should just buy another ski and ride with all of us … we had almost 15 skis out tonght in those 5 possinly 7 foot waves
Helped teach some people how to do this today… Also scouted a pretty gnarly climb/rappel spot… I’ll update this once we do it up…
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I will be happy to show you guys whats up… Enough of us have harnesses now, so you shouldn’t need to buy one… I don’t mind doing low stuff… It’s good practice…
ive stood up on that train bridge a few times (the first pics of you rappelling) and that is so high and sketchy… no way would i try that
Awesome, send me a pm next time you go somewhere small…I might buy a harness anyway, found one online for $25 marked down from $100 (I’ll post the link later when I’m not at work).
Please post link when you can…I’m in same boat and want to try this but never did it before. I wanna get on the kiddie ride before I go all apeshit. LOL
Is everyone ok? 
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/buffalo/Man-found-impaled-on-fence
Homicide Detectives say a 23-year-old man was found impaled on a fence Monday afternoon near Walden and Wood Avenues.
Please do this off the 600ft gorge at Letchworth. There were weed-whacking crews dangling off the edge with enough gear and rope to make it to the base twice. But when I asked, they said they are afraid to go all the way to the base. Pussies.
How do you not get arrested lol
Been out of town all week, so I haven’t done much… Going to get into some trouble tonight or tomorrow, though…
This morning marked the best rappel I’ve done yet.
The task: climb and rappel the permanently raised drawbridge off the 190…
I scouted it a few days ago with IanK and Evolution VIII MR… it looked daunting. From a distance it doesn’t look that high… once you’re under it… it’s insane… it’s so so tall…
However, the climb itself looked fairly straightforward… the bridge is canted at a 75-80 degree angle off the horizontal, and the railroad ties it’s made of essentially form a ladder all the way up… a 180 foot long ladder… there was no way in hell I was going to freeclimb that… no way…
So we started planning… I researched leadclimbing techniques and geared up. My anchors for the climb could simply be webbing slings looped around the railroad ties as I went up, while someone belayed me from the bottom.
Here’s what I had to get:
200 feet of dynamic climbing rope. (dynamic climing rope is somewhat elastic, to absorb the shock of your body falling… keep in mind that if I’m 10 feet above my last anchor, the fall is actually 20 feet. Not a fall I want to have an abrupt stop at the bottom of)
200 feet of 5mm “pull down” cord (more on this later)
130 feet of nylon webbing (cut into 10 foot sections and tied into slings [loops] with a “tape knot”, then backed up with a pair of double overhand knots)
13 sping loaded carabiners
(2) 5 foot lengths of 4700lb SFW chain
(2) rapides (also known as quick links… it’s like a chain link with a nut that allows it to open)
Here’s what else the climb required (that I already had)
200ft of static line
4 22KN slings
Harness
Gloves
ATC belay device
4 locking carabiners
Here’s all the shit assembled:
The Static rope is black. The dynamic rope is orange. The pull down cord is black and gold. The tied slings are purple. The chain and rapides are in the lower corner.
The plan was as follows:
The first step was to make a climbing anchor at the top. Once that’s established, the other climbers are essentially toproping, which is much easier and safer than leadclimbing (toproping is basically the situation at most rock gyms)
I would make my way to the first “rung” of the ladder. This was about about a 20-25 foot climb over some sketchy trusses… this was the only time in the climb that I was not attached to the rope. With me I would bring the 13 slings, the chain, 2 daisy chained sewn slings, and a ton of 'biners.
Once I was at the first “rung”, I would loop a sling around the railroad tie. I would then be thrown the dynamic line, which I would secure to my harness, then clipp into the 'biner at the end of the sling. The free end of the rope goes through a belay device to a person on the ground. If I fall, the belay device on the ground locks the rope, and I’m essentially dangling from my sling anchor… safe, in theory.
Then, it would be time to climb… Every 15 feet or so, I’d add a new sling, clip the rope in and move on… Reapeat 13 times…
Once at the top, I would use the chain to establish an anchor. With the anchor established, I’d use a sewn sling to lock myself to the bridge and then I would belay the person climbing up from the bottom. The climb was way too high to have the rope loop back to the ground… In fact, it turned out that there was only about 15 feet of rope left on the ground once I ascended to the top.
As the second person was belayed up, they would remove all the slings and anchors along the way, as they were no longer required once the toprope was established.
The seond person would bring with them the static line and pull down cord.
An anchor for the static line would be created with another length of chain and a rapide, and a special series of knots would be used to secure the static line in the anchor. The reason for this is so when the last rappeller is on the ground, the rope can be pulled down, leaving only the chain and rapide at the top (about 10 dollars worth of stuff).
I’ll explain that setup now. This setup is called a “reinforced 'biner block”
***In this picture, imagine that the blue sling is chain, and the very top-most carabiner is actually a rapide/quick link ( a LOT smaller of an opening than the 'biner)
The first knot used is a “clove hitch”. It’s tied to the spine of the biner that’s second from the top. Essentially, what you’re doing is creating a stop for the rope that’s too big to fit through the rapide… this is what actually supports your entire weight during the rappel. It basically prevents the rope from moving one way (the weighted side) and allows the rope to go the other way (the pull side). Since it’s not really a total “lock” and more of a slip joint it’s important to MAKE it a lock, this is where the reinforcemen comes into play.
Tying a figure 8 on a bight, and backing it up with a double fisherman’s knot a loop is formed. In this loop a carabiner is attached (the lowermost 'biner in the pic)… it then is clipped around the weighted side of the rappel line… In the event that the 'biner block slipped through the rapide, the load is then transfered to the loop formed by clipping the 'biner on the line.
Lastly, the 5mm “pull cord” is attached to the lowermost 'biner. Once the last rappeler is off the line, you pull the 5mm cord, which pulls the rappel rope all the way back up through the rapide, and eventually back to the ground. This would be my first time using this setup.
Once the static line was in place, there a climber would be belayed up the bridge by a person on the top, the belayer would rappel down, and the climber would become the belayer, until we were ready to go. Then the last climber would pack up the dynamic rope, any slings and anchors, rappel down, pull down the rap rope, and we would be on our way, missing only the static anchor at the top.
It’s important to note that at all times, anyone not being belayed would be attached to the bridge itself with one of the sewn slings… basically just a safety line in case the slipped. During belaying, it’s common to lean back into the sling… similar to a rappelling position.
The rappel would be a free rappel… the pink line:
Well, that was the plan.
Everything was going smoothly, the climb was scary, but easy… the angle of the bridge was sufficient to allow you to stand on a tie and simply lean into it (this made placing the 13 anchors a breeze). I got to the top and set the dynamic anchor. Breetime began gathering the required materials that he would have to bring up (static line and pull cord)…
Then a cop showed up.
However, he immediately turned around and parked… (at the red X in the above pic). Then he didn’t get out of his car… it crossed my mind that he was waiting for backup to arrive or something… none came… It was then apparent that he was just parked back there to sleep… or smoke… or jerk off… HE DIDN’T SEE ME! I remained still for about 45 minutes… I could see him in the car with his arm out the window. He stayed parked there for about 30-45 minutes, while I stood at the very top of the bridge (I was clipped into a safety sling as well as still being “on belay”)…
During this time a few trains rolled by on the neighboring bridge… the tremors could really be felt from the top of the bridge… 
A scary feeling for sure.
Eventually, he left. At this point, my friend Dave began climbing up, while I belayed him, but forgot to bring the static rope. As he climbed he removed all the anchors, as planned (this is called “cleaning”). Once he got to me, he told me that we had to go, as he was already late for work.
Reluctantly, I agreed, but I wanted to rappel off it just once. I belayed him back to the ground, where he tied the pull down cord to the end of the dynamic rope, which I hauled up… Dynamic rope is a lot thinner than static rope, and as such, rappels much faster… but I had to work with what I had. I hauled up the pull cord.
Once I had the pull cord to the top, I set to work making a rappelling anchor with the chain. Once the anchor was complete, I tied the 'biner block up, tied the reinforcement, tied in the pull cord and threw it all over the edge… the knots at the top used about 5 feet of rope. As i watched, only about 15 feet of rope went into the water below, landing about 30 feet from shore, 20 feet from the decrepit wooden planks offshore of the bridge (see first pic).
This means the drop to water was about 180 feet.
A fall from that height would be fatal, surely.
I put my gloves on, locked my belay device onto the line, unclipped and stowed my safety harness and stepped off the edge…
It’s a pretty insane feeling to be dangling under a bridge, nearly 200 feet off the ground… nothing at all under you… however, I’ve become accustomed to trusting the feeling, and it’s really very peaceful up there as you sway in the breeze… I began to descend the rope. It went quickly, but controllably. I stopped about 10 feet off the water. I looped the brake line around my leg a few times to prevent going any lower, then pulled in the rope under me. By this point it was about 25 feet of rope, because the dynamic rope stretches a great deal. I threw the rope to Breetime, who was standing on the pylons. He was able to JUST catch it. He pulled me over to the pylons and I was able to get off the rope and stay dry.
Once off, I pulled the pull cord allowing me to retrieve my ropes. Then we packed up and left, leaving just the anchor at the top… We’re going to do it again, I think… hopefully with less time restrictions this time…
A whole host of photos were taken, but not on my camera… so the only photo I have at the moment is this one… more to come.
ENJOY!
This photo was taken by dave about 25 or 30 feet from the top… You can see the anchors that he had “cleaned” clipped to his harness. For size comparison, that’s breetime standing at the very bottom of the tracks… it’s a LONG WAY DOWN
You’re fucking gnarly!!!
It was a really fun adventure… I kinda wanna do it again…
My palms are sweaty just ready that…
Paulo and I were at this bridge a few weeks back and set off an alarm that said the cops were on their way. I assume you didn’t hear this? It was coming from that red shack near the downed bridge.
Crazy shit dude, but awesome pics!