And beards!
During the 1980's - let's call him Pete (as he may read this despite being in manglement) had the long hair and beard of a student.
He was abseiling down Gaping Gill, a 100m surface shaft on the slopes of Ingleborough in Yorkshire, when said long hair became entangled in his fig-8 descending device (about half way down). Luckily, he was carrying a knife on a lanyard round his neck and calmly cut away the offending hair. Unfortunately, he nearly immediately became entangled by his beard and he was pulled close enough that he could feel the heat of the metal descender on his chin. This required very careful use of the knife very close to the skin. This was made doubly difficult as a fig-8 put twists in the rope as you descend and he had been slowly spinning in the middle of the open shaft for the 10 minutes or so it had taken to extricate himself.
He looked a right state when I got down to him, with a chunk missing from both his hair and beard, and still looking pretty green from the spinning. He didn't tidy his hair or beard, but wore them in that state as a 'badge of honour' until it grew out.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
