Three strands of 550 cord = 1650 lbs breaking strength / 150lb soldier = 11:1 safety factor. Not bad guys.
It doesn’t pass the whistle test, but the term “acceptable loss” is used a lot more in the military than in the rope rescue world.
Really though, it’s just a great picture of how soldiers will get a job done no matter what the conditions. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were all this driven!
Also, there are still a fe spots left for the New Technologies in Rope Rescue Class.
While Batman may have nothing to do with these two stories, they are nonetheless a bit holy in that both of the following rope stories take place in churches.
The first story is of 85 year old Rev. Tim Harrison of St George’s Cathedral in Perth, Australia who rappeled 130 feet down the side of the bell tower for Seniors week. From some of the pictures, it looks like he has better form than a lot of 20-somehthings! Good job Reverend.
And if you think bell towers and rope go together like milk and cookies, you might be right. But then again, you might end up like an unlucky bell-ringer from near Bath, England. While ringing the bells at her local church, the unlucky victim made the rookie mistake of not letting go of the rope in time. What followed was the inevitable flying up in the air and the requisite return trip to terra firma at the speed of gravity.
The victim was knocked unconscious and had to be lowered through a hole in the belfry floor rather than carried down the small stairway. Not an obvious place for a rope rescue, but certainly a heads up call by the responders on scene.
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
I’m going to go out on a ledge here and say that they might. You can see the technique in action in the two videos below. This first video shows a more subtle version of the “Kickoff Pickoff ” that may or may not have been made up on the spot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZzqNlpazU&feature=player_embedded
This next video clearly shows that this team has practiced this more aggressive version of the Kickoff Pickoff. Note that he was completely comfortable on a short, very fast rappel and the coordination of his partner dropping all of his excess rope as he jumps. Clearly they’ve trained on this enough to know that it will work. Because, if you get it wrong, it’s going to be a LONG day on the typewriter trying to explain this one away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn7SWTj9TIU
…and the only prescription is more cowbell !
Just kidding, it’s more Doortex.
Continued work at the vacant buildings that double as the testing sites at R2T brought us to yet another variation of the Appalachian Doortex. We’re toying with the name Appalachian Slingshot (APS); again with the obvious shoehorning of East Coast stuff in to a rope topic. The APS concept was tested a few years ago when I hooked up and rappelled out of a window on it. The pictures below show us using it in an elevator shaft, but can be used out of a window or even for creating an anchor in a doorway.
The basic configuration for lowering:
This front tie is only needed when the APS is unloaded.
A change of direction was added to the haul line in order to make the hauling easier. We were able to pull down instead of up.
Here it is used to create a strong, simple doorway anchor. The AZTEK is there to pre-load the system.
Also under development is the stand alone use of leg sections sections as anchors in doorways. Here are a couple of pictures of two outer leg sections used to span a doorway and create anchor for the two MPDs used to raise and lower the load. We’ll be taking a serious look at this in the coming year to find out the limits of these leg sections.
The raw video is of an actual tower rescue in Washington DC. No, not a telecom climber stranded high up an antenna, but a worker dangling on his safety line after his motorized scaffolding had a catastrophic failure. It was Tower 3 who positioned themselves to be able to use the bucket to go get the worker and unclip him from his system and eliminate the need for any type of rope rescue (damn).
A couple of points to note in the video:
Even though it appeared the Tower was going to be able to get the victim, the guys were still getting dressed out in order to perform a rope based operation should it have been necessary. It was a good job getting plan B in motion in case plan A didn’t work for whatever reason.
The worker hanging in his harness was staying relatively still while hanging. As noted by Dr. Roger Mortimer in his 2011 ITRS presentation, it is the lack of motion while hanging in a harness that seems to cause Suspension Trauma, Harness Hang Syndrome, whatever you want to call it. The point is to get the people to move their legs if they are at all able to. Here is a link to his published work on the topic:
http://www.itrsonline.org/PapersFolder/2011/Mortimer2011_ITRSPaper.pdf
Last, it looked like the bottom end of his safety line was entangled with the scaffolding and pulling tension on the line across his body. I don’t know if that means anything or not, but it should be a consideration during size up. If the Tower was unable to get to the worker, it’s possible they could get to that safety line and free it up if it were causing issues.
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It’s obvious that anchors are the key to any successful rope rescue operation, but sometimes they just aren’t where we need them or they aren’t as strong as we’d like. Take a look at the three anchor failure videos below for proof. While there are some slackliners who have an idea of the forces they are putting on their anchors, a lot have no clue. Evidence:
Maritime anchor failure:
If, however, you are interested in a strong portable anchor for your rope or vehicle extrication team, then take a look at the pictures below. James Hurley of Heavy Rescue Solutions has developed an aluminum anchor plate that can be picketed into the ground with three picket. Wrap the handle with webbing and pull away. The plate is roughly 3 feet long and weighs around 25 lbs without the pickets. The pickets can be driven by hand or with an air impact chisel which HRS has developed a special bit for. If driving by and with a sledge, they have developed a fitting to make it less likely to mushroom the head of the picket.
This anchor plate has been pull tested end to end and withstood 44, 000 lbf of force. The ability of the plate to hold a load is clearly dependent on the soil in which the pickets are driven, but early testing R2T did with James was conducted in a moist, loamy soil and the anchor held to around 8000 lbf after it settled in a bit. The newest version of this plate has been revised and James said it can hold quite a bit more than the prototype and with less settling in movement as well. He’s hoping to have everything finalized and ready for production at the beginning of November. If you are interested in the plate or want more information, give James a shout at:
heavyrescuesolutions@gmail.com
Here are some new AZV uses we at R2T have been testing to see the real world practicality of. There are some earlier proof of concept pictures on the multimedia page, but these were done in exposure with a two person load. They’re all versions of what we’ve decided to call the Appalachian Doortex (APD), an obvious attempt at getting some East Coast love into the rope world.
The purpose of these APD is to create either an anchor, a high directional, or both simultaneously in the urban environment. The initial thought was for use in elevators, but can obviously work to create an anchor anywhere there is a solid block wall surrounding a door. We run A LOT of stalled elevators in in the city where I work, 15 a day is about average in our geographically small city. Not many require any rope work at all, but the one’s that do can be a real pain. Have you ever looked in an elevator lobby for anchors or a high directional? Not much around. That’s the problem we were trying to solve.
The “Ram’s Head” is the first version we came up with. In this configuration we hooked both MPDs right to the head of the APD; there was no guying, tying, or anything. The foot of the lazy leg was not resting against the opposite wall. Aside from a very minor initial settling in of the APD, it did not move during the operation. It was loaded with a two person load that was raised and lowered several times. One of the MPDs was hooked up in a fashion that caused it to bind against the head of the AZV a bit because it allowed us to have the operating handle facing outward. Because of the angle of the rope leaving the MPD into the elevator shaft, this very minor binding was felt not to be an issue.
Next up is an Upside Down APD, with no clever name given yet. Maybe the Appalachian Lean-To (ALT)? Yup we’ll go with that for now. Just another way to make an anchor/HD combo. Also loaded with a two person load, operated up and down a bunch.
Here is the close up of the dual MPD anchoring on the Appalachian Lean-To.
Below are two pictures of what we used to keep the the Appalachian Lean-To from kicking back should it have wanted to. It didn’t want to. We had a dynomometer in there to see if there was any force trying to push the ALT away from the opening. The needle didn’t move at all during the operation. We were pulling against an extra leg section of an AZV run through two 4×6 blocks with holes drilled in them to keep the leg section from resting on a small, roll prone contact point on the hoistway doors. We’ve been calling them “Brace Blocks” (Appalachian Brace Blocks?) They worked really well. I suspect they can be used to help span doorways in buildings to create quick, simple anchors in a hallway.
While we have not tested a center pulled AZV leg to failure yet, this one was pulled to 500 lbs without any visible deflection. Further testing on this configuration will be conducted in the near future and we’ll let you know what we find out.
If anybody has any thoughts, questions or comments on this, or would like further training on operating on rope in an urban environment please feel free to leave a comment below or send Kelly an email directly at rescue-2@comcast.net.
…to play that overly tensioned piece of rope that’s supposed to be a highline! Or, at least that was my first thought until I realized that it was an unloaded basket. Pictures from a different website show a basket with an attendant on it clearly creating a more appropriate amount of sag in the track line. I’m curious if they ever did have a victim in the basket as well as an attendant. The goal of the drill, aside from incorporating a bunch of rope skills and logistical planning, is to get a patient who is in distress to an area where they can be helped. If that is the goal, why not train with a victim in the basket?
I’m not picking on these guys in West Point, NY. There are lots of places that don’t put victims in a basket. “Safety” is the reason that I have most often heard. If “safety” of your system depends on the difference of 200lbs, we should probably use another system. “Scared” or “uncomfortable” are a much more realistic answer. I know I don’t like being in the basket on drills. Not only are you out of the rigging picture, you also feel completely helpless just laying there. And you pretty much are. But you can imagine that somebody who has NO idea what is going on (an actual victim) is going to be 10 times as scared as you are.
It’s not a bad idea to place somebody in the victim role so you are at least able to empathize with people somewhat when they are laying helpless in a basket.
Now, we’re only looking at a small scene from a moment in time, but the rigging pictured below raised a couple of flags for me. First is the use of redundant anchor straps. The second is attaching one biner to those anchor straps to hold the whole system. Just food for thought:
Tight!
Not so bad once loaded:
Same department, different drill:
The Mars Rover “Curiosity” has photographic evidence that even on Mars you can find evidence of the superiority of finely tied knots. Of course, the picture is of the Rover taking a picture of its own wiring harness. But it is still cool to know that despite all of the superiority of modern technology, that it still comes down to a clove hitch to keep a wiring harness bundled together countless miles from home. Members of the International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT) have defined exactly what kind of knots are used.
Whoa, wait. There is a GUILD for people who tie knots? Yes. Yes there is, here is their website:
I was actually a member for a couple of years. I like rope; these people LOVE rope. You might even say they want to marry it, which any good member, past or previous, of the IGKT knows is actually called a bend. OK you can boo now.
My bad attempt at humor finished, here is a link to the story. Thanks to Joe Fefe of Winchester Sprinkler for knowing that if there was such a thing as the IGKT, I must surely have been a member and for passing this story on:
http://news.yahoo.com/ancient-knots-keep-mars-rovers-laces-tied-red-141541222.html
