UKC

After speaking to a few of you guys on here I am now keen to make a trip to costa blanca.
Whilst doing a bit of researching come across a bridge swing video.
http://theorangehouse.co.uk/videos

I don't no anything about this but it looks fun I was just wondering weather climbing harnesses and ropes are designed to take that sort of load. Just seems a bit crazy but like I say I don't know much about the strength of these things.

And is there a company running this or is it just crazy frill seekers setting it up.

Thanks brad

In reply to bozie: This is under "The Orange House" so maybe they could answer your questions. One of the videos has a close-up of a harness and it just looks like an ordinary harness to me, as does the rest of the gear. I'd guess that there are companies that specialise in this kind of thing and if you want to make it worthwhile and still safe, you'd better find one of them.

In reply to silhouette:

I suppose the guys at Orange House can fix the jump for you.

The gear is no problem but you should know how to fix it. I organize 20 meter jumps for friends all the time.

In reply to bozie:

Last time I was there-many, many years ago, all the anchors were set in place and even scaffold poles to stop your ropes dragging agains the anchor bridge when your swinging back and forth. If we'd had a (as it was at the time) 11mm rope and not two 9mm's we'd have prob done it.

It's in the middle of the Mascarat Gorge, there are good multi pitch routes starting from the bridges too.

In reply to bozie: planning to go there the end of feb going to try and stay at orange house so see if they can put me in touch with someone who can organise it. I don't know anywhere near enough to try it myself.

In reply to bozie:

The load for a swing is much less than you might think, much less than for a fall because the energy is spread out over a long time. Only about double that of just hanging on the rope.

In reply to bozie:

It tells you where and what in the original rockfax guide for CB

In reply to bozie:

definitely worth doing, great fun.

no companies doing it, something you set up yourself on your rest day and jump. As somebody above says anchors are in place. We set up with 1 climbing rope and jumped on another 1.

In reply to bozie:

Two of us were once climbing El Pajarón in the gorge while a large group of very excited and extremely loud Germans were doing the bridge jump. Anyone who's climbed this route will appreciate that it's, er, 'interesting' enough without the continuous background of "eins ... zwei ... drei ... absprung!" followed by blood-curdling screams and excited whoops - which literally went on for hours ...

The only constructive comment I can add as far as the jump itself is concerned is that you seemingly end up quite close to the ground below the old bridge on the first swing, as witnessed first hand while doing some of the sport routes in the bottom of the gorge on another occasion.

I don't know which was the worst really, the "eins, zwei, drei" - or having screaming people flying past your head while you're climbing....

Dave

In reply to bozie: The first time I went to the Costa Blanca, probably the late 70's, an RAF chap was killed doing the bridge swing while we were climbing in the Mascarat Gorge so I've never really fancied it. I belive that they got trhe rope length wrong so it would be worth getting some info before trying.

In reply to bozie:
It's pretty safe if you jump from the right place on the bridge and have tight ropes. You're about 12m off the ground at the closest point, which does seem very close once you've fallen 40m!

6 resins bolts on the far side of the old bridge, equalise them into two points. I use two Grigris locked off, one rope tight and the second with a little slack in it, to avoid loading two single ropes at once. That would make it a much harder fall.

If you're planning on doing anything "wacky" like jumping upside down then a full body harness would be better, if not your normal climbing harness should be ok!

In reply to bozie:

I totally agree with Rich, when I rigged the bridge swing a couple of year's ago for the London Mountaineering club, there are bolts and guide lines on the opposite bridge and use 2x 60 metre ropes using tied off grigri's. I used an assitant to help lower using both grigri's at the same time.
Couple of points;
If unfamilar I would release a rucksac with some weight in it first just to ensure that the above method works and everyone is familar with the set up.
Secondly, because there is weight in the ropes I would have a sling that ties in the jumper to the bridge.
Thus;
Jumper ties in on slack ropes on the road side of the bridge and is checked off.
Slack taken up.
Jumper goes over the handrail and holds on.
Final slack taken from rope - should be to tension the ropes.
Jumper untied from handrail and is free to fall. The weight of the rope will pull the jumper of the bridge will stop any slips, trips or mishaps. Enjoy.

In reply to Rich Mayfield: Is the place you jump from on the new bridge marked? I'm thinking about doing it when i'm over there. Have done it before but it was at night with people who had done it before.

In reply to will909:

There wasn't no formal marking on the road bridge when we did it.

In reply to sherpa_del: No didn't think there was, can just remember the people i did it with saying you've got to jump from next to two rusty bolts on the bridge, where the railings have 2 vertical bits.

In reply to will909: Try looking at the videos on YouTube. The following ones are when we did it in April 2012. You can see from the videos where on the bridge we are jumping from.

youtube.com/watch?v=oSzDLK4XTm4&

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=cUrHdz5iErQ

In reply to bozie:

If you get a big enough crowd we can do this for you although with a bit of nounce you could figure it out!

We took a big group before Christmas for a night jump with glow in the dark body paint!

Sam Orange

In reply to will909:
There was a small red mark on the outside of the railing marking the spot. Don't know if it is still there. Rich on Sam machine