In part two of the four part self rescue seminar we began by reviewing the belay escape technique we learned a week earlier. We would soon find out that like the instructor said, The belay escape forms the basis for all the skills to come. The focus of this session was rappel rescue, but in order to initiate a rappel rescue, one must escape the belay.
The two instructors once again were clear at explaining the skills they were showing, and had no problem showing us again one on one. We began by rappeling down a rope as if we were able to get to the top of the cliff with another rope. once we reached our partner we would use the 48 inch runner that we girth hitched to our harness and attach ourself to the fall victim. at this point we would use a pulley system constructed using a kleimheist hitch attached to the victims rope, two carabiners, and a piece of cord. this pulley system would allow the rescuer to unweight the victims rope allowing to untie the distressed climber and lower to safety.
The next section involved escaping the belay as in a situation where you are belaying from above the climber, then rappelling down and rescuing them. There are a few important steps that I’m not going to get into in this post, but I can assure you they are all important. The guys teaching the course again did a great job in making sure everyone understood this technique. We had plenty of time to practice and the instructors stayed there to the very end. I really think my local climbing community could benefit from having instruction like this closer to home.
Round two proved yet again to be a great learning experience. Next week we get to learn about advanced hauling systems, so stay tuned folks.
-Patrick
Patrick is a lover of all things adventure and photography. When he is not at home in Northeast PA, he can be found traveling with his camera and climbing. One of his most memorable experiences outdoors is his recent summit of Mount Rainier.
