and something else is wrong with the rope. the rope was underneath him, starting to get tangled up and those knots happen on occasion, so he would stop, adjust it. i m fighting for control, and usually, on a normal controlled descent, they can stop me at will, i can hang out on the side of the ledge if i want to. here, i m doing everything i can to keep myself from falling. eric has to undo the knots. fortunately, he s able to find a tiny ledge to brace himself. nice. he was able to kind of maneuver his way over to it, then totally adjust the rope. i thought that with only 100 feet left, i could basically force my hand to, you know, control my descent. but at this point, everything goes from bad to horrifying. now everything s out of
this time, david is also going to be a cameraman. we thought it would be great to have it on camera and we could show other people what we do. but what they re about to record is their worst nightmare. eric is planning to rappel 300 feet into the beautiful but dangerous englesteed canyon. you can t really see the bottom of it. it kind of blows your mind away, just the scenery of it. they choose a spot and david helps eric set up for the rappel. i quickly noticed how tall, how far 300 feet is. i was very, very nervous. there are all sorts of factors that can lead to death and injury, as you rappel. they seem to have all the equipment. except for a helmet, a key piece of safety gear for climbing and rappeling. david tapes as eric sets up for the rappel, checking everything twice. david grabbed the camera and tried to document the first
david scrambles to the canyon s edge and peers down. i got into kind of panic mode. hey, you okay? i m like is he dead? because he s not responding. at the bottom of the wall of rock, eric comes to. i looked at my hands, saw a bloody mess, checked myself out, immediately stood up. and it dawns on him, amazingly, he s still alive. i knew i had just been part of a miracle. modern day miracle caught on tape. david now has to rappel to his friend in the canyon below. i asked him what happened, you okay. he just shows me his hands and his hands were just all blistery, all meaty. i knew i had just survived a fall that i should not have survived. and now there s only one way out of the canyon. i m a little shocked still, but we re carrying on. he s a trouper.
then something goes horribly wrong. in a utah canyon, a man rappels down a towering cliff but loses control and falls 100 feet to the bottom. i thought for sure that my life was coming to an end. hey, you okay? in the summer of 2009, eric shrever and david cardona are hiking through utah s zion national park. they re both experienced canyoneers, skilled at getting through canyons by any means possible. that includes climbing, rappeling or even swimming. i ve always loved the outdoors. i ve been an avid hiker. but this canyoneering sport, it takes hiking to a whole new level, and i started dabbling in that about three years ago. i ve been doing canyoneering for about a year with eric.
the rope was underneath him, starting to get tangled up and those knots happen on occasion, so he would stop, adjust it. i m fighting for control, and usually, on a normal controlled descent, they can stop me at will, i can hang out on the side of the ledge if i want to. here, i m doing everything i can to keep myself from falling. eric has to undo the knots. fortunately, he s able to find a tiny ledge to brace himself. nice. he was able to kind of maneuver his way over to it, then totally adjust the rope. i thought that with only 100 feet left, i could basically force my hand to, you know, control my descent. but at this point, everything goes from bad to horrifying.