Resources --- 1/19/2011 --- Lindseth

Vertical Rescue Curriculum

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Vertical Rescue Syllabus (Updated Fall 2015)
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Handout -- 50 Mistakes, (MS Word format) Climbing Magazine, issue 299, October, 2011, p.58
http://www.climbing.com/skill/50-ways-to-flail

Handout -- Suspension Trauma

Reading -- Top 5 Takeaways from Accidents in North American Climbing 2017, by Dougald MacDonald

Resource -- The Sharp End Podcast

Case Study -- Single Bolt Failure

Josh's New Discussion Scenarios -- PDF Format


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Class 1
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Intro (show & tell favorite gear)
Case Study: Laurel Knob
Throw out favorite gear
Prussik demo (lower climber off end of rope)
Ascending (Fasulo, p.36)
2 Prussiks from ground
2 Prussiks from hanging start
1 Prussik from autobloc rappel
1 Prussik from end of rope
New knots (ATC + mule, munter + mule, double fisherman)


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Class 2
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Demo: Burn through sling by lowering climber
Case Study: Touching The Void
            ANAM 2005, p. 35
Belay Escapes (Fasulo, p.27)
Munter/Mule
Passing a Knot While Lowering (Fasulo, p.41)
Passing a Knot While Rappelling (Fasulo, p.49)


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Class 3
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Demo: Break nose-hooked carabiner with lead fall
Case Study: Hauling through lip of crevasse on Kahiltna Glacier, no ANAM reference
            Kahiltna rescue where climbers had pretied prussiks incorrectly and also couldn't haul, ANAM 2000, p.33
Hauling (Fasulo, p.75)
3:1
5:1
2:1 assisted

Belaying from above with autoblocking device
  Belaying two seconds (risk of device not locking if ropes come from different directions)
  Lowering one climber, lowering two climbers
  
Demo required mechanical advantage for various frictions (free hanging, roof, 180 bend over carabiner) by how many
rescuers it takes to haul one victim.


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Class 4
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Demo: Break spectra sling in FF2 fall with weights
Case Study: Randal Grandstaff rappel failure, June 2002 on Great Red Book in Red Rock, no ANAM report
            YOSAR letting unknotted rope slip through belay device, ANAM 2005, p.42
Proper Rappel Setup
Tandem Rappel (Fasulo, p.51)
Barrel Knot
Autoblock
Passing knot on tandem rappel
Stuck Rappel Ropes
EDK
Clove Hitch


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Class 5
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Demo: FF2 Belay Failure demo (2nd anchor bar in right-most crack). Demo w & w/o
Jesus nut. Lead rope tail should shoot through belay device. Leather gloves for
belayer. Backup belay needs lots of slack.

Scenarios:
  Standard Follower Haul Rescue
  Standard Leader Rescue
  Rap Rope Stuck in Tree
  Prussiking Through Roof
  Student Refuses to Leave Belay Ledge After Disassembling Anchor
  Multipitch Tandem Rappel With Unconscious Victim
  Hair Stuck on Rappel

Bonus Material:
  Mariner Hitch
  1:1 body haul

Also, this leader rescue scenario. These conundrums. And these scenarios.

Carabiner broken from being nose hooked in a fall. (Category:  Resources)

Carabiner broken from being nose hooked in a fall.    Lindseth -- 1/19/2011

Do you wear gloves when you belay? (Category:  Resources)

Do you wear gloves when you belay? [Posted by Rich Goldstone (rgold) on rockclimbing.com]

1. If you are using a tube-style device (as opposed to an assisted-locking device) and if you do multipitch climbing, with the attendant possibility of falls with fall factor greater than 1, then you are at risk for severe burns if you don't wear gloves. This has been tested over and over again and is part of the design features of ATC's: the rope will run in high fall-factor falls when there is low system friction.

Now lots of folks are going to reply that they have been climbing since the dawn of time and have caught numerous "giant whippers" and never had the rope run. This is because severe falls are extremely rare, requiring both high fall factor (the faller falls past the belayer) and low friction in the system, and so people conclude, incorrectly, that the the rope can never run through the device. It can, and your hands and possibly your partner's well-being are at risk if you aren't wearing gloves and a bad fall happens. This is an example when "experience" isn't the best thing to go on, at least not if you want to be prepared for the worst scenarios rather than just the average ones.

2. People's grip strength is at least somewhat correlated with body weight. A 100 lb thirteen year old girl may climb circles around a 200 lb guy, in the process seeming to be much stronger. But her hands only have to hold her body weight, and he is double it, putting her in a very vulnerable position when it comes to catching him. So gloves for the lightweight partner become increasingly important as the weight mismatch between partners increases.

3. Sadly, gloves will decrease grip strength. Tests suggest 20-25%. This makes it more likely that the rope will run in a big fall (but remember tube style devices are designed to do that), but also more likely that the belayer will manage to control the rope without injury.

4. I think almost all belay devices claim ridiculous rope ranges. Handling for the larger sizes is bad, and friction for the smaller sizes is inadequate. The middle third of the claimed range is probably the only range with decent handling and friction. If you are using skinny ropes below the middle third of your device's claimed range, it is even more likely that you won't be able to hold a big fall without a lot of slippage.

5. The dynamics of catching a big fall do not seem to me to be widely understood. There are two phases, each involving the rope slipping through the device. In the first phase, the rope slips through the device and pulls the brake hand towards the device. The rope does not slip through the brake hand during this phase, and fall energy is absorbed by the rope running through the device under tension from the brake hand. In the second phase, the brake hand essentially hits the device and, if enough fall energy has not been absorbed, the rope continues to slip through the device and the brake hand.

So, the rope burns and possible loss of control occur in Phase II. It follows that one should want to get as much Phase I action as possible. This means having the brake hand as far as possible from the device at the instant of braking, allowing for the largest possible amount of rope to pull through the device and contribute to fall energy absorbtion before the brake hand hits the device.

I have no valid survey information, but the belayer behavior I see is often as ineffective as possible from the point of view of Phase I enhancement. The majority of the belayers I see have their brake hand almost touching the device, which means that in a severe fall they'll be in Phase II immediately with the rope smoking through their hands with no Phase I benefits. Compounding what might be viewed as bad belaying technique by not wearing gloves is signing up for the worst possible results if something really bad happens.

Here's an analogy to think about. More and more people are wearing helmets to at least mitigate head injuries. I've worn them since they became as light and ventilated as bike helmets, but also climbed a long time without them. That said, I've never had any incident that required a helmet, nor have most of the people I know. If we used "experience" as the guide, we wouldn't wear helmets. We wear them in spite of what "experience" tells us, because we understand that they protect against rare but potentially devastating events.

I'd put gloves in a similar category. The reason they aren't there for most climbers is that hand burns aren't the same as a head injury, and we hear a lot less about hand burns as well, precisely because they are not generally as devastating.    Lindseth -- 6/5/2014

New ATC Guide vs. 3.5 year old ATC Guide (Category:  Resources)

New ATC Guide vs. 3.5 year old ATC Guide    Ithaca -- 12/15/2014

New ATC Guide vs. 3.5 year old ATC Guide (Category:  Resources)

New ATC Guide vs. 3.5 year old ATC Guide    Ithaca -- 12/15/2014