Yahtaa wrote:That sounds absolutely terrifying.
Its not, Its how you get past horribly undercut lips. Its either that or you rappel to the lip, plant your feet, pivot on your feet till your legs are perpendicular with the ground and you jump out while rappelling quickly, on the swing back you swing under the lip. THAT is scary ;)
Using your feet as a pivot point, keeping yoru legs straight, and rapelling past the lip till you can flip under it is the easiest and safest way. yOu dont grind metal, you dont lose bars, you dont grind your hip/harness into the rock as you slide past, its a very fluent and controlled movement with no abrasion possibility. Everyone on the team I watched over at bridge day rappelled past the iron girders at the W plate like this.