SRT Rescue

[Jamie]

Doing the IRATA way there are 3 basic ascender rescues and a few descender rescues.

bearing in mind rope access uses two ropes, a working line and a backup line so you can ascend / descend their backup line if need be.

 

the descender ones are simple.

1.get above them, descend to them,

2.clip into them,

3.lower them onto you and remove their descender.

4.decend to ground using an additional braking carabiner.

 

Ascend rescues, there are three, beast, counterbalance and snatch.

i'll describe them as if you are coming down to the casualty on a seperate rope system.

 

Beast

1.descend on a seperate rope and change from decending gear into ascending gear,

2.clip into them,

3.start climbing until their croll goes slack,

4.install descender and change from croll to descender

this one is super tough on the legs as you are climbing with 2 people.

 

counterbalance,

1.descend to casualty,

2.tie into casualty,

3.attach a hand Ascender (jammer), shunt, prussic above casualty on their rope,

4.stick a carabiner through the bottom hole / prussic loop

5.thread a sling / footloop through the carabiner on jammer etc and clip it into their d ring,

6.stand up in footloop / sling, this equalises your and their weight,

7.grab their harness and pull up

8.still pulling up, disconnect their croll and lower onto your harness

9.descend to ground

 

Snatch

1.Descend to them,

2.clip into them,

3.attach ascender above you with a carabiner on the bottom hole (a shunt or prussic would work too) thread the rope through carabiner (a pully on this makes it easier).

4.Attach a second ascender (robbed from the casualty) and half the footloop length (or use a slingor a pantin.

5.Use this mechanical advantage to start climbing

6.when their line goes slack remove their croll,

7.remove your extra gear and descend.

 

hope that helps.

there are additional IRATA rescues but they are variations, i wont decribe them as you are unlikely to encounter an aid climb, deviation, rebelay or loop up a tree.

 

Jamie

[DrewB]

cheers jamie, heaps of info there. one of the scenarios im thinking of lifting the casualty who has cut his rope below his hitch and both rescuer and casualty are working on srt work positioning systems. lanyard lift looks to be the best option, once again cheers bro

[daley]

if your casualty is on a hitch,descend to him then attach him to you.lower him on his friction hitch till the rope goes slack and either pull his rope through the friction hitch or cut it and then descend with the casualty as normal.

[DrewB]

what if you need to lift an unconscious person?

[Dak]

Too keep them up right Drew or you thinking of other issues? Are talking for the lift or entire rescue?

[daley]

if the casualty is unconscious and he's cut his rope below him there is no need to lift him.The only time this would be necessary is if he is attached by some mechanical ascending device.However,to keep him upright you should attach him to you via the D ring on his chest harness.If you do need to lift him the quickest way is to descend to him,attach him to you via his chest harness,then attach a 120cm sewn sling to the same point.put a hand ascender above your ascending device with a carabiner in the bottom hole.Pass the sling through the carabiner and stand in it whilst at the same time physically lifting him.Remove his croll,lower him on to you and then descend as normal.

[Dak]

if the casualty is unconscious and he's cut his rope below him there is no need to lift him.The only time this would be necessary is if he is attached by some mechanical ascending device.However,to keep him upright you should attach him to you via the D ring on his chest harness.If you do need to lift him the quickest way is to descend to him,attach him to you via his chest harness,then attach a 120cm sewn sling to the same point.put a hand ascender above your ascending device with a carabiner in the bottom hole.Pass the sling through the carabiner and stand in it whilst at the same time physically lifting him.Remove his croll,lower him on to you and then descend as normal.

 

 

 

Ye that lift has been mentioned before, very easy and effective no doubt!

As regard to chest d, i cant say i know anyone who uses a full body harness for srt in tree work. I'm not saying there isn't just never come across one.

 

If you used your lanyard to lift, I can only really think of using their lanyard around them and to your d's to keep them upright if srt, if ropes intact (dbrt) I attach to their 3rd HC hole to keep my atttachment's uncluttered this of course is not be viable if casualty is on srt or even dbrt if he's but below his hitch.

 

Maybe two slings one around you, one around them attached with biner in middle for srt (this needs more kit) or their strop in a loop around both under the arms? Just thinking out loud here guys...

[Paul Smith]

You can use a long sling twisted in half with the casualties arms in each loop with the crossing point behind the back. join both loops with a krab and clip to the rescuer.

 

I dont use a chest harness for my SRT work.

[DrewB]

We tried lifting some 'playing dead' climbers who were stuck in crotches, it's really bloody hard!! Like you dak I'm just thinking out loud and seeing where this will lead. It's good so far