It
was only towards the end of the last
century that abseiling, also called
rappelling, became an activity in
its own right. Till then it was just
the method climbers used to get off
a mountain, cavers used to descend
into the bowels of the earth and
fire-fighters used for all sorts of
macho purposes. But it's fun, so
it's available as an activity in its
own right.
In case
you have no idea what abseiling is
all about, it's the art of lowering
yourself safely down a rope. You
wear a climbing harness, and are
clipped onto the rope with some
manner of descending device (there
are lots of different ones, and they
all have technical names, which
you'll either know already or not
understand, anyway).