rope

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

A Tale of Two Highlines

Posted by rescue2training on June 25, 2013

Posted in: high angle, highline, knots, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: anchor, failure, high angle, highline, rescue, rope, technical, techniques, training. 1 comment

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Best

Taken at face value, this is just a really ballsy, really beautiful shot of somebody walking a tightrope/slackline over Yosemite Falls. Completely ignoring the fact that I generally have the balance of a member of Delta House (Animal House) on a Friday night, I wouldn’t do that on my most fearless day even if I could walk a razor straight line.

The rigging, however, is what I was most focused on. The line that the guy is walking on is anchored on terra firma on one side and is anchored off to another highline on the other side!!!

The deflection in the anchor highline looks to be practically nil. The forces of a highline pulling on a highline, especially one with very little deflection, are likely to be pretty darn high. I guess that it worked, so I shouldn’t take too much issue with it. But there are several things that I saw that gave me a bit of pause. Aside from the fact that it’s a highline attached to a highline, the floating anchor side is attached with either multiple slings or a doubled up sling. Regardless, it is presenting a hell of a tri load on the single carabiner used for the attachment.

Secondly, it doesn’t seem like the smartest idea to me to be cutting the trackline with a knife; especially with one so small, doesn’t lock, and isn’t tethered off. The release of tension on the anchor highline causes the predictable, violent release. The chances for that blade to cut something you’re hanging on is just too much risk for me… but nothing bad happened here, so maybe I’m just more risk averse. Maybe a happy compromise would have been cutting the line with some scissors or trauma shears. I’m curious why they had to cut the line at all, though. It had to get out to that point somehow prior to it being tensioned.

Regardless, it looked like a great time to be communing with nature while on rope.

Worst

A not so great communing with nature while on rope is summed up in this picture from India.

Torrential rains in India this week caused some massive flooding and landslides that have left over 1000 people dead. HERE is the story.

Nice use of two tracklines in order to keep the sag to a minimum and people out of the water. The slack control lines can be forgiven because, according to the article, these type of highlines were being used to transport multiple people to safety in a short amount of time. A good trade off/ system analysis/ threat assessment in my opinion.

Let’s Drop Some Acid

Posted by rescue2training on June 18, 2013

Posted in: accident, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: acid, black diamond, failure, harness, rope, technical, test. 1 comment

Let’s drop some acid… on our harnesses and see what happens to them.

This is what equipment manufacturer Black Diamond said to themselves after a customer returned a harness that just kind of blew apart at the seams. The short version of the results is that hydrochloric acid is REALLY bad for nylon. To see how Black Diamond came to that conclusion, check out the writeup that they did:

HERE

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/68054494 w=400&h=300]

Back in the Swing

Posted by rescue2training on June 10, 2013

Posted in: firefighting, high angle, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized, vortex. Tagged: arizona, fire, high angle, high directional, offset, rescue, rescue 2 training, rock exotica, rope, swing, technical, techniques, training, ufo, vortex, yosemite. Leave a Comment

Well, after finally getting off of a 3 month ambulance rotation on “The Soulcrusher”, I’m hoping to be back in the swing of regular posts here on the website. In the vein of getting back in the swing, here are a few unique things related to ropes and swings:

First up is the world’s most expensive swingset, probably the most portable, but you’ve got to pay for the privilege. I try to keep my hands on rope at least once a day; since this day was so beautiful, I decided to take out the ol’ Arizona Vortex and goof around a bit. Because there is no cliff in my yard (yet), I had to settle for a flat land configuration. I used my AZV, a couple of AZTEK’s, a bosun’s chair, and a 4 year old. Here’s the result:

Of a more daring nature is the rope swing as pioneered by rock climber Dan Osman. While he ultimately died doing one of these jumps, it is pretty neat to watch the cajones this guy has to be able to do this stuff. He basically sets up a highline and, with a separate rope attached mid span, takes a free fall jump perpendicular to the track line. When the separate rope he is attached to comes tight, he goes for one hell of a long swing. I guess that, with the rope stretch and moveable mid span anchor, this is greater than a FF 2. If anybody agrees or disagrees, I’d love to know.

In stark contrast to Dan, I present the world’s slowest, yet safest, rope swing. Here is a shot of the rope offset that we set up in the last “Modern Technologies” class in Lancaster, PA. We had a main and belay coming from each side and connected to a Rock Exotica UFO to help keep all of the attachment points ultra clean. A CMC MPD was used on each side to control the main lines and and i’D and Petzl ASAP used for the belay lines.

A close up of the UFO on Rick Croft’s harness:

Stand by for more frequent postings again. Thanks to everyone who keeps checking in!

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!

One More Kickoff

Posted by rescue2training on February 23, 2013

Posted in: firefighting, high angle, rope rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: dropkick, high angle, kickoff, rescue, rope, technical, techniques, training. Leave a Comment

The lady in this video ought to try out for some Mixed Martial Arts events. She’s nearly successful in taking on three rescuers while she is on the ledge of her apartment building, apparently deciding whether or not to commit suicide. As for the rescuers: You can see the importance of wearing a chinstrap tightly, one rescuer’s helmet was ripped off by the victim. Also note the rescuer that is able to assess the victim for possible injuries by palpating the kidney area for any pain upon palpation…with his fist.

Seriously though, this would be a difficult task for anybody. That victim was not gonna get in any type of harness and was the definition of combative. Good job by the rescue team to send over more than one rescuer at once. I don’t know that I would have thought to do that, but it clearly helped.

I can’t find a way to embed the video, but it is definitely worth clicking on the link. Thanks to Collin Moon of Elevated Safety for pointing this one out to us.

The link was broken before. Fixed now.

http://flashovertv.firerescue1.com/media/3838-Firefighters-make-rope-rescue-of-combative-woman/

You Make the Call

Posted by rescue2training on February 13, 2013

Posted in: firefighting, high angle, rope access. Tagged: access, rigging, rope, rope access, technical, urban. Leave a Comment

Is this a picture of the world’s most hardcore truckman or of the world’s dumbest Rope Access guy?

You make the call!

Why Don’t We Drill More?

Posted by rescue2training on February 8, 2013

Posted in: firefighting, high angle, rope access, rope rescue, technical rescue, Uncategorized. Tagged: anchor, bolt, fire, high angle, rescue, rescue 2 training, rope, technical, techniques, training, urban. 6 comments

I don’t mean drilling as in training ( I’m sure that’ll be another post), but drilling as in: taking out a drill and putting a hole in a wall to make an anchor point. It’s just not something that I’ve heard talked about in the fire service rope rescue community as a viable option for anchoring. I’m not sure why though.

We’re pretty comfortable putting holes in roofs, breaking windows, forcing doors, etc… We might even be comfortable drilling holes for anchors in a building collapse situation in order to lift a slab of concrete. Bet when it comes to rope rescue; No Way! Maybe that will change in the future.

Looking at bolting initially, I was surprised by how relatively simple and quick it is to do. There is no voodoo knowledge or ninja rope skills required. The key points are to drill to the correct depth, far enough away from an edge, and to get the dust out of the hole before inserting the bolt. All of that information is available from the bolt manufacturer. In the video below, I’m using a 1/2″ diameter 3 1/2″ length Hilti KB3 rated at over 6000 pounds of pullout force. The Fixe hanger is rated to over 6000 lbs as well. Those aren’t bad numbers. Drop in a couple of more for your system and you have a pretty bomber system with very little effort. Before, a blank concrete slab was a thing to for the urban rescuer to fear. Now, it could be looked at as something to seek out!

Keep an eye out when you walk through buildings on routine calls. Look around for the concrete columns and beams to see where you could drill. I did this and was amazed at where I now feel comfortable knowing I can set up a system.

As seen in the video below, it takes roughly two minutes to drill and clean the hole, set the bolt and hanger, and finally torque it to spec. There are some tricks to keep you from cranking on the nut too much if you don’t have a torque wrench, like using a stubby box wrench. You just can’t get the kind of leverage needed to overtighten unless you are REALLY cranking on it.

So get out there and start drilling!

[wpvideo BCF9Ybo8]

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