Training in the great outdoors
Over 20 youth workers from Austria, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Malta recently took part in a training course on outdoor education organised by the Malta Unesco Youth Association in Marsaxlokk.
The course explored outdoor education as a tool for youth workers to help young people develop a more active, healthy, counter-industrial and ecological lifestyle.
The participants learnt through experiential sessions.
The training included a first-aid course, a rescue at sea session with the St John’s Rescue Corps and an abseiling session facillitated by the Malta Outdoor Association.
The training course was funded through Action 4.3 of the European Commission’s Youth in Action programme.
For more information on the Malta Unesco Youth Association visit www.muya.info.
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Pule' Carmel
Jul 24th 2012, 17:14
Self confidence is learnt through many activities.
While I do appreciate this abseiling activity , may I give my opinion.
* Where possible, two suspended people should not go down in the same vertical line/path one above the other( as shown in the photograph) so that if the upper one fails, it will not affect the lower one. They should use two separate vertical paths slightly apart.
* About the harness, I would prefer it if the harness had a shoulder or a neck strap, rather than the harness around the mid part. The latter is stabel when the climber vertical has his feet astride on the wall being climbed, but in case of an incident when the climber falls and turns upside down for some reason, the attachment point could take up a position that would cause the climber to remain stable when he is upside down. I am not excluding the fact that the harness could slip out when the climber is upside down.
from what I conclude, the attachment point is too close to the centre of gravity and if the feet do not touch the wall, well, normally in a free suspended body, the centre of gravity takes a position below the attachment point. I am afraid many abseiling pictures I see the stability in the rightr way up position depends on the fact that the person keeps his feet touching the wall. I just wander what would happen if the climber finds himself freely suspended with his feet nottouching the wall. This would be a nice experiment to conduct for every person as, in many people with short legs, this could make all the difference. Note that Maltese people in general have a heavy torso on short legs, and this is a recipee for instability using that type of harness. Has anyone ever thought of that?
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