Descending the Table mountain
When hooked up and ready, in abseiling, you have to make your descent down. Descending a mountain or building with only a rope and no sight to the below of you can be quite scary or even frightening.



Table mountain descent: Abseiling gear
When abseiling, you need to be wearing a helmet in case you might bump your head or when you might fall. Gloves have to be worn to protect your hands from rope friction. Abseiling boots make sure you have a good grip when going down and it is not unusual to wear kneepads for protection of joints. The ropes used in abseiling are low-stretch ropes and ensure the amount of bouncing of the cliff or wall is minimalized. With a rappel device you can control the speed of you descent. When you apply lots of pressure on the rope your descent will be rather slow. When, however, you decide to apply no pressure at all you descent will be fast.