Aerial rescue and lowering people down.

[Swampster]

if that's you in your picture there(?), you climb DDRT.

[WoodED]

We were going over aerial rescue techniques etc the other day and still it always seems to be that no matter how prepared you are, to get a climber up into the tree and attach to the injured and then back down again is gonna take a hell of a time...

 

i know the talk of 99% of the time the climber will get themselves down.. but if its too bad for that then by my reconing they may only have a couple of minutes or so to get on the ground.. no matter how much we get ready and prepared, i still an seen to get the whole operation down to less than 7 minutes... and thats with an extra line already in the tree ready.

 

im trying to come up with ways that the groundy can lower the climber down from the ground.. the best ive come up with so far is simply a sling and krab around the base of the trunk, and if need be the groundy can then just clip the rope through and lower the climber down, this does still however mean the climber has to cut his own prussik (or whatever he uses) which of course is useless if they already out cold..

 

anyone else got anything they have seen or used or any ideas at all? any thoughts welcome as always

 

instal a second climbing line in the tree if its a biggun... that will save some time.

[WorcsWuss]

using a figure of eight backed up with a prussik in case the rescuer let go of the line would work......but what if the rope was not long enough to get them down?

 

An advantage of the lowerable anchor is that you can make sure this doesn't happen.....base anchor, figure 8 backed up with a dead man handle prusik, long line to a high natural crotch with a pulley on the end instead of an srt line..... Climbing line doubled through the pulley.... In an emergency lower the lot.... Just make sure there's enough spare rope in the bag to get the false anchor to the ground.....!

[BenR]

The advantage of the floating pulley is you only need the line to be double the length of the anchor point, rather that triple in the case of a SRWP base anchor. A negative is due to the doubled force on the anchor point, its not always possible to get your anchor point as high as you would like in the tree. If you are rocking a lowerable system i guess a soft strop or a cutaway are important.

[Rik]

You mentioned cutting prusiks? suggests your climbing rope passes through a friction hitch/prusik on your harness, then up to a high anchor/cambium saver and then back to a fixed point on your harness?? that'll be DDRT or doubled rope technique.

 

ahhh got ya.. im with ya now! in that case yes i do!, (i feel dumb now )

[Rik]

im getting lots of ideas from all the replies, if anyone has any pictures at all of the systems they have mentioned (i find it difficult to picture things from words ) then please do post! i'm gonna try get some myself in the next couple of days when i try out different ideas

[WorcsWuss]

im getting lots of ideas from all the replies, if anyone has any pictures at all of the systems they have mentioned (i find it difficult to picture things from words ) then please do post! i'm gonna try get some myself in the next couple of days when i try out different ideas

 

Little sketch of the lowerable anchor.

Basically an SRT base anchored line with floating pulley, rope length needed for anchor twice anchor height....

[Rik]

ahhh cheers Wuss! that makes complete sense of course now i see it! cant believe i hadnt actually thought of that already!

[WorcsWuss]

No problem Rik.

I like working this system, makes me feel quite comfortable knowing that if I do hit something major with my saw I can concentrate on stopping the bleeding while my groundy lowers me straight down, no waiting for rescue or getting gear set up, just pull the stopper knot and let the prusik & 8 run.....

Because I'm self taught and not doing it full time with an experienced team I like to make sure I reduce as many risks as possible!

[Rik]

No problem Rik.

I like working this system, makes me feel quite comfortable knowing that if I do hit something major with my saw I can concentrate on stopping the bleeding while my groundy lowers me straight down, no waiting for rescue or getting gear set up, just pull the stopper knot and let the prusik & 8 run.....

Because I'm self taught and not doing it full time with an experienced team I like to make sure I reduce as many risks as possible!

 

completely agree with every word! try and keep the risks as manageable as possible, cos there are enough of them! having that knowledge in the back of your mind that your able to get down quickly whatever happens would i think definately give you more confidence and mental space to concentrate on the job in hand, not how to get out of is if it goes wrong (therefore hopefully meaning your less likely to have that accident in the first place)