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About the Bridge

The West Virginia Department of Highways, which owns the bridge, chose the Michael Baker Company to do the design. The construction contract was awarded to the American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel. Read more...

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• Passage to Adventure
• On Rope 1
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• Extreme Rappels

2009 Rappel Team Information:

According to Bridge Day™ rappel coordinator Benjy Simpson, 22 teams will rappel off the bridge’s catwalk at the festival Saturday.

The majority of the rappellers are either cavers, firemen, EMTs, rescue personnel, climbers or rope instructors. This year’s rappellers will hail from West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida.  There are two teams from Canada.

The teams will rappel distances between 700 and 850 feet, depending on their respective anchor spot on the catwalk. The team chosen first, Extreme Rappels, is given the anchor spot farthest from the bridge’s south side and, therefore will have the longest rappel.  Members of Extreme Rappels will again be raising and lowering the American and West Virginia flags to open and close Bridge Day™ 2009.

The New River Gorge Bridge is the second-longest single-arch bridge in the world. It is the longest single-arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. The bridge, 876 feet above the New River, is the second-highest single-arch bridge in the United States. Bridge Day™ is recognized as the state’s largest one-day festival and also one of the top 100 festivals in North America. It has been estimated that Bridge Day™ directly contributes $1 million directly to the local economy of southern West Virginia.

Simpson and his whitewater rafting company, Passages To Adventure, have been coordinating the Bridge Day™ rappel since 1992. During that time, there have been 2,615 rappellers doing over 5,000 rappels with only one injury.

Bruce Smith will again be the safety officer for the rappel. Smith is the co-author of On Rope, universally recognized as the authoritative book on single rope techniques. He owns and operates On Rope 1, a company that trains, educates, manufactures and markets custom rope climbing equipment. Smith says, “The New River Gorge Bridge is one of the best long rappels in the world.”

The high line will also return to Bridge Day™ this year. Benjy Simpson and his his team of experts will rig the high line. Last year, 129 brave souls slid 600 feet down a rope from the catwalk to Fayette Station Road. The first Bridge Day™ high line was in 1994.

Visit www.passagestoadventure.com for more information about the Bridge Day™ rappel.