Topic

Self-Rescue Workshop - Sunday, 12th June 2011

5 of us headed to Valley Entrance for a bit of a mess-about (aka Training Session!) with ropes.

We started with a quick look at how to help a tired caver prusik. We then got diverted slightly onto turning this into a hauling system (and hauled Brian up the pitch and off the pitch head). Then came the first of our preferred methods for getting an incapacitated caver down off a rope: a pitch-head cut & lower. Once we'd all had a go at this, we moved to a "snatch rescue" (aka ab down on a separate rope, connect casualty to you and carry on to the floor), and ended with a variation on this where the casualty is on jammers (time for the knife again).

A bit of practice over the next few months, and hopefully everyone'll be ready for part 2 - with lots more variation on the methods used above to cope with problems such as: no spare rope, rebelays & deviations.

Thanks to everyone for their willingness to be kicked and generally man-handled.

Party: Susan, Brian, Gordon & Alex R
Time: 5 hours

dweare wrote:

Party: Susan, Brian, Gordon & Alex R

Obviously I was there too!

(I've just come back to this message 26 minutes after posting it, and it's apparently had 26 views already ... I don't think we can trust the "viewing figures" on this forum! Thinking about it I suppose it includes all these search engine bots that automatically trawl stuff.)

A very informative and enjoyable day.

Thanks Damian for the excellent training, all explained in terms even I could understand.

I would have written 'it was a frightening experience to cut someones rope'
.... But as usual, I was confident to do so after being talked through it step by step by Damian.
- I hope I never have to use it! - but I think everyone should know how!

I was also very interested to witness first hand how difficult is is to lift some one to the top of the pitch. - Finally taking me, using body weight;
then me and Alex
and then finally me Alex and Damian also adding more pulleys = 3 of us using a Z rig!
Then when we got him to the top it was quite difficult to drag the caualty onto 'one of the easiest top of the pitch ledges in the Dales'.

The final tip of the day is that all cavers should carry 3 crabs and a pulley [also a sling].


On the theme of number of 'hits' on the website; it might explain the often huge number of viewings compared with the quite small number of replies??

Cheers Gordon - glad it was of use.

gordona wrote:

3 of us using a Z rig!

To be exact what we ended up with wasn't actually quite a z-rig. We had a counterbalance on the main line and then one half of a z-rig with a spare rope to assist. There are lots of other ways we could have done it too. True Z-rigs aren't as effective as they might appear because everyone has to pull upwards, rather than downwards, which is much harder.

gordona wrote:

The final tip of the day is that all cavers should carry 3 crabs and a pulley [also a sling].

... and know how to use them. Otherwise there's not much point! Personally I recommend a mini-traxion, rather than a pulley because it also doubles as a spare jammer - just don't be tempted to use it as a pulley-jammer in hauling rigs unless you are CERTAIN you can release it!

As I said on the other thread I am very grateful for the experience and I echo the other sentiments not least about the point on extra crabs because they could come in handy not just for rescue situations but for more mundane reasons, such as spares (you know what I am like), climb assistance, even that extra crab you forgot for the last pitch.

So I will be getting a few extra as my last spares I ended up using them permanently for my bags and I have not got any new spares yet.

alexr wrote:

So I will be getting a few extra as my last spares I ended up using them permanently for my bags and I have not got any new spares yet.

Alex if you want some snap gates to use on your hauling cords, let me know as i have got a load spare so you can have some of them if you want.

PS for free

Alex - suggest that you spend a few extra pennies when you get your krabs and make sure at least one of them is oval ... much more versatile and easier to clip and unclip in difficult places (like a casualty's central maillon!)

I know I’m a slow learner, but things are beginning to sink in. The thought of rescuing someone is very scary and fills me with panic, just hope I never have to do it. But I do realize how important it is to have at least a basic knowledge on how to assist/rescue on a pitch. Thank you Damien for your time and patience most appreciated.