appalachian doortex

Vortex in Action

Posted by rescue2training on September 28, 2015

Posted in: appalachian doortex, firefighting, high angle, open enrollment, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: anchor, appalachian doortex, arizona, bowline, doortex, firefighter, high angle, high directional, highline, knots, rescue 2 training, rigging, technical, techniques, training, urban, vortex. Leave a Comment

A department in Oregon was on the news for a rescue they accomplished when they rescued a kid who fell 50′ down a cliff while trying to retrieve a cell phone (thank goodness for job security). In the video footage win the link below, you can briefly see the setup they used during the actual rescue. The Fire Chief also took the opportunity of the news interview to have his guys using an Arizona Vortex at ground level for some good public education. Nicely done!

http://www.ktvz.com/news/crr-teen-seriously-injured-in-40-to-50foot-falll/35441476

If you are interested in upping your game on how to use the Arizona Vortex, we still have a few spots available for our Oct. 19 and 20 Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue class. HERE

Thank you to everybody for all of the interest! After filling up all of the spots in our first class in record time, we opened up a second class right after the first one. That class has now filled, too! Keep an eye out on the website for our upcoming classes. We will most likely have the next one in March. You can sign up for our mailing list in the column on the righthand side of the web page.

After many months and many requests, we are once again offering open enrollment for our popular Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue class. Come join us in Lancaster, PA on ~~Oct 17 and 18~~ to learn how much more efficient your rescues can be with a few pieces of modern gear and a whole lot of practical applications learned from real world experiences. Here is your chance to keep up on the latest equipment and trends in the rope rescue world.

After filling up the Oct 17, 18 class in record 5 days (!!!) we have decided to run a second class the following 2 days. The registration is currently open for the Oct 19, 20 class. The link at the bottom of this page will register you for the second class.

Topics this time around include:

Use of the AZTEK kit to pass knots, perform a pickoff, basket attending, and a whole lot more.

In depth discussion and use of the Two Tension Rope System utilizing the MPD.

Use of the Arizona Vortex high directional in the urban environment.

The Rescue 2 Training original: The Appalachian Doortex! For urban anchoring and elevator rescue. High Directional? Anchor? Both!?… Come find out!

3 dimensional anchoring with the UFO.

The Skyhook capstan winch.

…And much more.

The cost of this two day, 16 hour class is $295 per person. Just bring a harness, helmet, and any ideas or equipment you would like to see used.

Please contact Kelly Byrne at 240-462-6610 or kelly@rescue2training.com with any questions.

We’ve had a huge demand to run this class again this spring, so we’ve finally added this open enrollment class to our calendar. Here is your chance to keep up on the latest equipment and trends in the rope rescue world.

Join us in Pennsylvania Dutch country for our latest presentation of Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue at the Lancaster County Public Service Training Center on April 25 and 26 2015. Using the newest techniques on the newest equipment in an urban setting, come learn ideas that have been proven and tested in the real world in both urban and wilderness settings.

Topics included this time around include:

Use of the AZTEK kit to pass knots, perform a pickoff, basket attending, and a whole lot more.

In depth discussion and use of the Two Tension Rope System utilizing the MPD.

Use of the Arizona Vortex high directional in the urban environment.

The Rescue 2 Training original: The Appalachian Doortex! For urban anchoring and elevator rescue. High Directional? Anchor? Both!?… Come find out!

3 dimensional anchoring with the UFO.

The Skyhook capstan winch.

…And much more.

The cost of this two day, 16 hour class is $295 per person. Just bring a harness, helmet, and any ideas or equipment you would like to see used.

Please contact Kelly Byrne at 240-462-6610 or kelly@rescue2training.com for registration information or questions.

Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue Open Enrollment

Posted by rescue2training on April 15, 2014

Posted in: appalachian doortex, firefighting, high angle, knots, rope access, rope rescue, technical rescue, vortex. Tagged: anchor, appalachian doortex, arizona, doortex, high angle, high directional, knots, rescue, rescue 2 training, rescue2training, techniques, training, vortex. Leave a Comment

We have just added an Open Enrollment Class for our Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue workshop on May 17 and 18 in Lancaster, PA.This class covers a lot of ground in two days. We will discuss and use the AZTEK in many of its essential uses. We’ll also be using the Two Tension Rope System concept with the CMC MPD. Additionally, we’ll be using the Arizona Vortex in some of its traditional configurations as well as the Rescue 2 Training original: the “Appalachian Doortex” configuration for urban anchoring and elevator rescue.

Come out and try the newest equipment and techniques in rope rescue. Cost of the class is $295.

Email Kelly M Byrne at kelly@rescue2training.com or call 240-462-6610 for more information.

Open Enrollment Time!

Posted by rescue2training on June 30, 2013

Posted in: appalachian doortex, firefighting, high angle, highline, knots, rope access, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized, vortex. Tagged: access, anchor, appalachian doortex, arizona, bowline, doortex, elevator, high angle, high directional, highline, knots, lancaster, rescue, rescue 2 training, rescue2training, rigging, rope, technical, training, vortex. Leave a Comment

Enrollment is now open for our Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue. The class will be held August 24 and 25 at the Lancaster County Public Service Training Center in Lancaster County, PA at a cost of $295 per student.

This class covers multiple versions of the bowline along with some pretty god reasons to consider them, several uses of the AZTEK kit, a thorough introduction to the Two Tension Rope System concept with the MPD, and the use of the Arizona Vortex Artificial High Directional in some pretty typical urban setup configurations as well as some Rescue 2 Training exclusive uses of it in a few of the Appalachian Doortex configurations. As you can see in the pictures below from our last class, we did a good bit of work with the Rock Exotica UFO. One particularly challenging and fun scenario was to change the direction of our main and belay lines 180 degrees on an anchor that was free floating in the middle of the stair landing. There was also some excellent use of the UFO to simplify the rigging of a Two Rope Offset.

In addition to the Arizona Vortex, Appalachian Doortex, MPD’s, UFO’s, and AZTEK’s, we’ll also have available for use in this class three new products (some not even on the market yet) from Rock Exotica:

The little brother of the UFO; the rockStar.

The Enforcer load cell; which features swivels at both ends, a digital readout, and Bluetooth transmitting capabilities!

The AZORP (Arizona Omni Rigging Pod); an add on used to increase the already amazing flexibility of the Arizona Vortex.

Here are some pictures from our last MTRR class; we did some heavy duty 3D rigging along with some urban AZV usage:

This class is different each time we run it and we’ve developed new techniques each class with input and ideas from the students. If you’re interested in seeing and helping develop what’s on the cutting edge of rope rescue equipment and techniques, contact Kelly to reserve a spot in this popular class. Call 240-462-6610 or send an email to rescue-2@comcast.net

The Smoking Prusik

Posted by rescue2training on April 15, 2013

Posted in: appalachian doortex, high angle, highline, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: anchor, appalachian, high angle, high directional, highline, rescue, rescue 2 training, rope, technical, techniques, training, vortex. Leave a Comment

Pretty awesome video just posted on youtube from a Pat Rhodes class in Australia recently. While testing the “what ifs” of a trackline failure, video was taken of a prusik capturing the load on the horizontal control line. You can see smoke coming off of the prusik/rope interface after the trackline is failed. Because I wasn’t there and am only guessing: I wonder if instead of smoke, it is actually steam from the moisture in the rope being cooked off ? Either way, it is very cool to see. Thanks to Richard Delany and the Rope Test Lab for making this type of video available on their facebook page. There is a ton of excellent information and discussion going on there. Check them out!

While not quite as cool as the Appalachian Flagpole (or a smoking prusik for that matter), this video from the manufacturer Kong shows something like an App Flag and Gin Pole hybrid. I like the technique of being able to hook your haul system to your gin pole. It’s not really mind blowing, but just another cool incremental advance in the world of rope rescue.

While the Arizona Vortex is usually thought of as an industrial and wilderness rescue piece of equipment, it’s no secret that I think its full potential as a tool for the urban rescuer has not been fully explored. With that in mind, we are constantly trying (occasionally failing) to find out how to best use this tool to our advantage. We’ve been working on different configurations of the Appalachian Wedge Pole (AWP) lately.

The first and perhaps the most useful version of the Wedge Pole is used to create anchors in a hallway where others might not exist. While no permanent name has been found yet, and because it appears to be bombproof, we’ve been calling it the Atomic Wedge Pole. Or Atomic Wedgie for short. As in: “Hey give him an Atomic Wedgie quickly, so we can get on with this rope rescue. ” But again, no permanent name yet.

Below are some pictures we took during the discovery phase of these anchors, a scale model so to speak. They were loaded with a couple of guys giving it all they had, leaning into the load line. It was an initial test to see if the anchors would move at all. The next step in the process will be to load these with a one person load and operate a raising and lowering system. Then on to a two person load.

A slightly more complex version that allows for a longer haul field that runs toward the edge.

Some techniques might be setups in search of an application, the picture below being one such example. I envision using this above a hole in a hallway, where there are no other anchors present. This might be more of an industrial confined space setup, but it’s neat to see in action.

These pictures above are of urban usage, but we developed the technique out on the rocks. Here are two pictures of the first AWP setups, one horizontal and one vertical, from when the idea first struck.

This last picture comes to us from the men of Group 2 on Rescue 1 with the Boston Fire Department. They constructed an Appalachian Lean-To and changed the direction of the haul line 90 degrees at the head resting on the floor. To counteract the resultant force that wants to lift the left leg away from the wall, they front tied the setup to an anchor spanning the doorway with two AZTEKs, one of which is doing the job of keeping that left leg in compression when it naturally wants to pull away from the wall because of the COD on the head. Good job guys!

Enrollment is now open for our Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue. The class will be held March 30 and 31 at the Lancaster County Public Service Training Center in Lancaster County, PA at a cost of $280 per student.

This class covers multiple versions of the bowline along with some pretty god reasons to consider them, several uses of the AZTEK kit, a thorough introduction to the Two Tension Rope System concept with the MPD, and the use of the Arizona Vortex Artificial High Directional in some pretty typical urban setup configurations as well as some Rescue 2 Training exclusive uses of it in a few of the Appalachian Doortex configurations.

Below are some pictures from the last MTRR class in Lancaster. It was during this class that the Appalachian Flagpole was developed. The AF is designed to create a high point for grain silo rescue while not having to rely on the lightweight roof for support. A couple of the pictures show its first inception. The picture of the AF with the an MPD attached to the A frame head (next to the conex boxes) is where it is currently at. It is another high directional/anchor combo.

If you’re interested in seeing what’s on the cutting edge of rope rescue equipment and techniques, contact Kelly to reserve a spot in this popular class. Call 240-462-6610 or send an email to rescue-2@comcast.net

Appalachian Flag Pole

Posted by rescue2training on December 15, 2012

Posted in: appalachian doortex, confined space rescue, firefighting, high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: anchor, appalachian, doortex, fire, firefighter, high angle, rescue, rescue 2 training, rigging, rope, technical, techniques. 2 comments

This post was originally published in Dec of 2012. After switching servers we lost the video and some of the pictures. We’ve recently found them again and wanted to repost this for the many people who contacted us during the past 4.5 years asking about it. Enjoy.

During our most recent “New Technologies” class in Lancaster, PA, we we were posed with the scenario of how to create a high point and system for rescue from grain silos. It was explained to us that the flimsyness of a roof on a silo doesn’t exactly inspire confidence to operate on. Not to mention that there aren’t that many anchors up there.

After thinking on it for a bit, we were able to come up with what basically amounts to a gin pole lashed to the interior ladder and rising up above the top of the silo, much like a flagpole. So we called it the Appalachian Flag Pole (naturally).

After searching around for a while after class, it appears we were not the first people to figure out the AF. The cell tower industry uses this sort of thing to raise sections of their towers. They just call it a gin pole…BORING. As far I can tell, nobody has tried this as a rescue technique.

Boring Gin Pole:

The basic setup of the Appalachian Flag Pole consists of lashing a few sections of an Arizona Vortex to the interior ladder of the silo. With about 3 feet of it sticking up above the top of the structure. Yes, it is unsupported, but there is not a lot of bending force on the top of the AFP. The resultant force is pretty much straight down the leg, with the force being transferred to the ladder.

Version 1 of the of the AFP had the haul system attached to the orange head, which is at the bottom of the AFP and lashed to the ladder, with a change of direction at the top of the AFP and the rope going back down to the victim.

It worked well, but required a lot of resets.

So, while working with Collin Moon and the guys from Elevated Safety in Chicago, we were able to refine the technique by attaching out MPD to the top of the AFP and do a counter balance raise. We also figured out that we could the blue AZV head for out top anchor point instead of a foot. And when Rock Exotica comes out with the 720 head…watch out!

Check out the video below to see the AFP in action. A couple of things to keep in mind: Where the camera is filming from would actually be the outside of the silo. Collin is the rescuer in this case; the victim outweighs him by a good 50lbs and he was still able to easily accomplish the task. This only happens when the rescuer hauls upwards on the victims line while simultaneously sitting down on the counterbalance line. Lastly, after the victim is out of the hole at the top (the metal grating in this case) they can be pushed to the outside of the silo and lowered with the MPD. If the video below is taking too long to load, CLICK HERE for the video on Youtube. Take a peak:

There are some urban applications that we believe the APF would excel at and will post the results when we complete the testing on it. It is our belief that it can be used successfully in the urban setting, such as the chimney in the picture below, where a man suffered a fatal fall into the chimney while attempting to take pictures. This happened in Chicago on 12/13. Article Here

If you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to leave them or to contact me at kelly@rescue2training.com. Enjoy!

New Technologies in Rope Rescue

Posted by rescue2training on October 29, 2012

Posted in: appalachian doortex, firefighting, high angle, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized, vortex. Tagged: appalachian doortex, arizona, bowline, doortex, fire, high angle, rescue 2 training, rope, training, vortex. Leave a Comment

Well it’s short notice, but we have had some significant interest in running another “Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue” class. So we’ve decided to add one more for the year.

We’ll be at the Lancaster County Public Service Training Center in Salunga- Landisville, PA on Dec 8-9 for this two day class covering a wide range of what’s new in the rope world. In particular, we will be working heavily with the CMC Rescue MPD (Multi-Purpose Device) and Two Tension Rope Systems. This system dramatically simplifies the rigging needed to execute the majority rope rescues.

We’re also going to be covering the use of Arizona Vortex artificial high directional. While we will cover several traditional setup configurations, we will also be showing the setup and use of the Appalacian Doortex in a couple of different configurations. Knotcraft, with a focus on the benefits of the bowline and it’s many variations, will also be covered in depth.

The cost of this 16 hour class is $280 per person. If you have any questions or would like more information, please give Kelly a call at 240-462-6610 or send an email to

rescue-2@comcast.net

Rescue 2 Training

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Vortex in Action

It’s Open Enrollment Time Again !! Update: Second class sold out, too!

Open Enrollment Class: Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue

Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment Time!

The Smoking Prusik

Atomic Wedgies and Other Urban Vortex Thoughts

Open Enrollment: Modern Technologies in Rope Rescue

Appalachian Flag Pole

New Technologies in Rope Rescue

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