I woke up at 7:41 AM EDT which was 4 minutes before I intended to meet Brandon at the Whiteside Parking Lot.  I cursed, quickly stuffing my sleeping gear into my car and zooming down the road.  Given the extreme curviness of the road, I made pretty good time.  I really didn’t want to be late because I intended to set a good example for Nate.  I made a quick stop in Highland for water and then zoomed east on 64 until I reached Whiteside Mountain Road turning to the south.  If you pass the road, 64 takes a sharp turn to the north and you cross into Jackson County.  I flew up Whiteside Mountain Road. 

I swerved into the parking lot and soon met shivering Nate, bundled in his sleeping bag.  Brandon had told him we were meeting at 6:30 AM EDT.  Nate told me that there were already 4 cavers from the Extreme Rappell team on the mountain and that they had showed up shortly after his arrival.  Nate and I together hauled his behemoth 800’ rope up the mountain and soon spotted the main rig, Rappell 1, tangled with 3 ropes.  Further down the trail, we spotted another rope, Rappell 3.  Rappell 3 didn’t look like a very nice rappell.  We scoured up and down the trail looking for a place to rig and finally decided to rig at the first, railed overlook just southwest of the main rig. 

I rigged to a tree on the side of trail opposite the cliff and laid rope under the fence and prepared to fling the end out over the ledges.  My first attempt failed but my second toss got the rope just past the farthest ledge.  The strong pull of the rope soon indicated that I’d cleared all the ledges.  Alex showed up carrying Brandon’s rope eventually followed by Mike Murphy, Brandon Stephens, and finally Jeff Moore.  I rappelled down to lay rope pads.  I rigged two spots nearest the ledge above the free fall and climbed back up to get a glove to rappell down with.  At the last minute, I decided to take up Jeff’s offer and borrow his extended rappell rack.  I rappelled down feeding the huge rack and decided to replace one of the rope pads as I looked up from the ledge. 

As I began my decent, I determined that Jeff really needs spacer bars as the rack didn’t rappel much better than a normal rack.  I had to hold the 3^rd bar in place and feed the rope in order to descend.  Once I was 100 – 200 feet off the ground I rappelled quickly and smoothly.  I yelled Off Rope and thought I heard Nate respond OK.  I then saw the rope pull up and down and knew he was getting on rope.  It turns out that he just happened to judge that I was probably off rope because he hadn’t heard my yell. 

When he reached the ledge, I saw something began fluttering down the cliff.  He’d dropped his yellow rope pad.  It fluttered like a butterfly all the way down the cliff and landed within 15 feet of the rope end.  Nate slowly rappelled to the bottom. After grabbing Nate’s pad, Nate noticed that the others wanted to come down.  I quickly got on rope to prevent that and began climbing until Nate halted my ascent mentioning that I’d forgotten a glove and rack in my haste.  I grabbed them both and climbed about 40’ before Nate got on rope.  We tandemed up gaining 40 – 50 feet each time.  

When Mike went down, he rebelayed off of some bolts rather than just using rope pads.  Brandon and Jeff had already taken off to go kayaking.  It seemed like Mike and Alex took quite awhile to bounce the cliff.  Nate and I talked to the tourist as they passed by and questioned our intentions.  One Northeastern man with an English accent told me that Chimney Rock and Mount Lacont were good places to backpack in North Carolina. 

When Mike and Alex finally reached the top, we derigged.  I coiled while the others pulled.  Alex carried the rope back down.  I talked to Mike as we descended.  In the parking lot, Nate and I poured over the North Carolina map for somewhere to go next.  I really don’t like the way the map is set up.  It’s hard to flip from one page to the next.  We finally decided to go get some food where we’d continue our search.  I saw nothing in Highlands so we continued to Franklin, hopped briefly onto 441 North and got off at a Taco Bell.  I had two Baja Beef Gorditas which I’m sure weren’t very good for me, but they taste good.  Back in my car, I downed an apple, carrots, and a couple energy bars to satisfy my hunger.  We’d decided to drive to nearby Wayah Bald.