I come from an industrial rigging background. Comtrain certified to rescue someone from great heights, to get them DOWN.

What I would like to know is, without the use of a capstain winch, a 5 to 1 or some bullshit involving rope, blocks and a pickup truck, how do you get an injured (or panicked) person back UP to safety?

I have used some pretty sketchy techniques to ascend the shafts so far, and they suck. It works in the small shafts I been down in the past, maybe 40 feet max, but the mines I recently located are much deeper. Shit just got real. Time to get a real ascender but cant do it alone, a promise to my beloved dependents I would not attempt rope work by myself anymore, so now I gotta bring a buddy. Someone else to worry about. Need a plan to get someone out?

Yeah those industrial vertical rescue solutions are quite unrealistic for exploring or for any kind of self-rescue.

Cave/Wilderness self-rescue techniques are very different though, and don't have to involve carrying very much extra gear; just some extra knowledge and a few extra skills. I supposed it is still all technically "bullshit involving rope" but it'll get you out alive.

Most of the minimalist vertical self-rescue techniques that don't require a ton of extra equipment were first used by glacier crossing alpine mountaineers who need to be able to pull the buddy they are tethered to out of the crevasse he just fell into, but now they've evolved a bit and are practiced by all sorts of climbers, canyoneers, and of course cavers.

You've still got to create a mechanical advantage for yourself to work with and a way to capture the progress of each pull if you want to be able to haul someone back up vertically. But this can be as simple as a Trucker's Hitch paired with a progress capturing knot, or some sort of Z-Drag system that you make up using Prusiks. Most of these techniques will only provide a less than 3:1 advantage, but in most situations that will make the necissary difference. There are also some clever but more advanced low-equipment solutions involving counterbalancing yourself and the 'patient' and closing a diminishing loop as you climb with them hanging alongside you but without having to actually lift any real additional weight (for the really really long drops where you think you won't be able to haul them). The advanced stuff can get pretty complex but you can still get out of a lot of sticky situations with just the simple stuff.

It all comes down to not just studying, but also looking for expert instruction if you can find it and then safely practicing and practicing some more. You certainly wouldn't want to be attempting any self-rescue technique for the first time in a real emergency - nor would you want to be the injured one somebody was trying something with for the first time. There are so many potential complicating factors too; you need to be able to modify your solution based on the specific scenario.

When I'm heading into a mine (or wherever) with rope I carry a pair of prusik loops, a spare carabiner, and a tiny emergency ascender (like a ropeman or tibloc) in order to be able to whip together a fast and dirty haul system if it's needed. But the no-gear skills might still come in handy if I accidentally drop a certain key piece of gear or somehow lose my entire pack. I know that as long as I have some spare rope I can make everyone crude harnesses and oldschool ascension systems and even a very inefficient haul system using only extra rope and some knots.

I bet that you'll find yourself having tons of fun trying various rescue techniques out in a tree or wherever and then afterwords you'll feel more confident pushing deeper drops and daring the crazier stuff on your explorations.

If you're genuinely interested in learning about this kind of self-rescue I'm sure that myself and the other folks here can gladly point you towards some top-notch literary resources and even describe some of our own tricks here BUT we'll also likely all agree that nothing we can write about or post photos of online will substitute real in-person expert instruction.

One of the best books on the subject is:

Climbing Self Rescue: Improvising Solutions for Serious Situations
by Andy Tyson and Molly Loomis

This one is also very thorough, but in some sections it has become outdated:

On Rope: North American Vertical Rope Techniques
by Bruce Smith and Allen Padgett

Thank you for this post. It has been something lurking in the back of my mind for some time now, too. I'll be practicing with some of the minimal gear methods for emergencies.

Although a bit off topic, we tend to bring along quite a bit of extra gear when we head out to the mines. We generally don't carry it with us unless we know that the mine requires a lot of rigging. We do keep it staged in the vehicle in case a situation develops that requires extra gear for an "assisted egress".

I realize that we aren't planning for self-rescue, but rather having gear somewhat accessible in case we need it. Although I have done my share of solo exploring, I find the ideal minimum to be three explorers. If one gets injured we have one to say with the injured person and one to go get the appropriate assistance.

When it comes to self rescue, I always have a couple of prussic loops attached to my harness and a small pulley in my backpack.

Abby Normal

I am thinking something along the lines of
attaching injured person to end of rope

ascending rope

throwing a second rope down the hole

rigging the rope injured is on to a gri gri or auto stop block

finding something to use to add a bit of weight, maybe throw some rocks in a rucksack

attach the rope with the injured person on it out the "block" to yourself

attach yourself to the second rope to descend

descend the rope, thus pulling injured up as you go down, the gri gri
will act as a reverse stop holding injured person at the top of the shaft while you ascend back up

that is what I had in mind when I said "bullshit involving rope" as in shit I came up with that might*** not be the safest or best way of rescue

Posted by ghost6 I am thinking something along the lines of[...]

Ghost6 has described a very real technique called a Rappelling Counterbalance Haul. It has some issues that has caused it to no longer be taught in the circles I train in (cave rescue), but very similar techniques employing the same sort of concepts have replaced it - potentially using even less gear/rope.

One major issue in all vertical emergencies/rescues is a variety of orthopedic shock called Suspension Trauma, often referred to as Harness Syndrome - poorly named because it involves no genuine trauma nor is it dependent on the presence of a harness. Basically if a person hangs limp but upright with their legs dangling below them for any longer than fifteen minutes (or so) a dangerous amount of blood will pool in their legs. Something like 15% or more of their blood will literally cross out of the vascular system and stop circulating, trapped in the spaces around the tissues of the lower body. This causes a significant loss of blood pressure which can cause feinting followed by very real brain suffocation! And, the stationary blood in their legs can coagulate leading to a sudden stroke the moment they leave the upright position! A patient can literally keel over dead after being quite conscious during what appeared to be a successful haul, or they can suddenly pass out and turn blue as you're trying to raise them.

While walking and standing upright we flex the muscles in our legs which displaces pooling blood, so if you find yourself hanging for long periods for whatever reason you can just stretch out, move around, kick, and generally flex the muscles in your legs every so often to negate the danger. Suspension trauma is not usually a problem for someone actively climbing because they are constantly flexing the muscles in their legs as they work their ascenders up the rope. Rappellers are rarely on-rope for long periods and often they are flexing their legs pushing off of an adjacent surface. But for a potentially incapacitated injury victim; suspension trauma is a very real threat. There are an unfortunately large number of well-studied cases in which young, healthy, fit climbers succumbed to renal failure after less than 20 minutes of hanging.

But back to counterbalance systems...

Rappelling Counterbalance:


That's the Rappelling Counterbalance just as Ghost9 described it, but with a backup belay and a second person (instead of a bag of rocks or whatever) as the additional weight needed. In a self-rescue situation you likely won't have those luxuries (or that much rope but I'll get into that in a bit).

Among the issues with the counterbalance rappel technique were that the patient and rescuer are so far apart the whole time - you climb up while they wait below, then you pass each other, then you have to climb back up after them - it's tiring and can be problematic if the patient suddenly passes out in the middle of the maneuver or requires urgent assistance while you're at the other end of the drop. Also there was the need for the extra weight (in practice upwards of 150lbs or more can be required in some common cases) in order to overcome friction with the rappel rope, anchor pulley, etc., plus the weight discrepancy if the patient happens to be noticeably heavier than the rescuer.

Diminishing Loop:


With the Diminishing Loop system you're always within reach/sight/conversation-distance of the patient and if something happens you can safely abort by doing a traditional changeover to rappel and quickly getting you both back down. Also you only have to climb up the drop once using double the amount of rope, at a slight mechanical advantage, carrying only the difference between yourself and the patient in extra tethered load which might me a negative number thus helping you along if the rescuer is heavier than the patient. (That's really confusing sorry.) Unfortunately there are several ways to fuck up at the top wherein one of you drops the other as they try to disconnect. :-o

I think the Diminishing Loop technique is really slick - you're climbing normally and the patient gets pulled up alongside you. The lightest tug on the tether between the two of you is all that is needed, and your ascending closes the loop until you're both at the top. If something goes wrong you can safely abort by doing a changeover to rappel and lowering both of you back down (assuming you haven't used a progress capturing device up top). I mainly practice a variant of the diminishing loop wherein I do use a progress capturing device at the top and also have the whole thing rigged to another smaller haul system above which I transition myself onto in order to finish the last tricky task of getting the patient over any lip or edge at the top.

(Gotta add that I learned the technique from an expert instructor and I wouldn't suggest anyone just go up and try to figure it out based on my description and outdated diagrams! I pulled these diagrams out of a training pamphlet from 2007, so these techniques may even have been improved upon since.)

It's complicated stuff. My issue is that any counterbalance system assumes you have at least a little more than double the distance of the drop in available rope length. I'm certainly not carrying double the amount of rope that I know I'm going to need. They also require you to rig the pulley up top for the rope to go through, which means you can't implement them while the rope is weighted (you have to de-rig and re-rig the rope to get the system in place).

I think counterbalance systems are more for rescue teams with lots of hands and eyes and equipment.

If it's just you and your one inured companion and no double-lengths of rope, then your best bet is to set your favorite simple quick mechanical-advantage progress-capturing haul system at the top and work fast. Keep yelling down at them as you haul insisting that they occasionally flex their legs and constantly keep communicating up to you so you know they're okay/conscious. If they're truly incapacitated/unconscious or there's any reason to think that they might lose consciousness on the rope then don't try to pull them up unless you're sure you can do it really quickly. If there's any question then you need to give them your jacket and hat and quickly go get a rescue team with a proper rigid stretcher, piles of gear, and a medic.

Now here's the kicker:

What if you're the one climbing on the rope and you swing out suddenly and slam into the wall or something heavy falls down and hits you on the head or whatever, knocking you out cold. You need to be either pulled up to safety very quickly, or brought down quickly (while a rapid haul system can be rigged up) before you hang there for too long. Can your buddy pick you off the rope for a tandem rappel (another tricky maneuver) or climb past you to get a z-pulley system in place and haul your unconscious body back up before suspension trauma sets in and you have a stroke or just stop getting oxygen to your brain? If everyone in your exploring crew practices until the answer is yes, then you've got a world-class vertical exploration team.

Further reading about Harness Syndrome:
http://www.caves.o...nAlpineHarness.pdf

We've been tossing this stuff around for a while.

Since few of our vertical mine situations are exactly the same, I think the best answer is that there isn't a single answer that works best.

You'd want to figure out which systems work best for you and the folks you explore with.

One to bring a person up while you're tending them from the side, one to bring them up while they're below you (tighter shaft) and you're controlling the rigging.

One for you to raise them from the top/bottom, perhaps.

What if you're the one climbing on the rope and you swing out suddenly and slam into the wall or something heavy falls down and hits you on the head or whatever, knocking you out cold. You need to be either pulled up to safety very quickly, or brought down quickly (while a rapid haul system can be rigged up) before you hang there for too long.

When I was doing extremely hazardous dismantle jobs in tree work, I would rig my "swing away" backup system. It doubled as my safety descent in-case I was knocked unconscious or severely injured.

I would basically be tethered to a separate life-line, which is rigged over a pulley and down to an anchor. But I wasn't just anchored off; a lowering device (figure 8/atc/rack/etc) was rigged to the anchor down below, and my line went down through that, rigged backwards, with enough spare rope on the ground so that if I were in trouble, a ground crew member could run over and untie the safety knot and then lower me to the ground.

A similar system can easily be set up when you're rappelling shafts.





Here's a question for you though....

You should seriously consider that, given the injury, at what point do you decide you DON'T have the equipment/expertise, and you call in professional help?

You should think about this stuff ahead of time, so you don't waste time trying to do the 'save' if someone is nearly-critically injured.

And unless you've got a backboard/basket and all the means to properly C-spine someone while keeping their head/neck stable WHILE they're being raised... (and enough people on hand to make it possible), then you should leave that kind of thing to the people who train doing that on a regular basis and are prepared to safely make that kind of extraction.

Maybe a broken hand/wrist/ankle/leg/foot; that you'd try to get them out yourself?

What if your buddy breaks their leg, and decide they'd prefer a professional rescue vs. one that's thrown together with fellow adventurers who have minimal training?

What if YOU break your leg, and your fellow explorers don't have the training/expertise/confidence that you have?

Just food for thought.




There are some active and passive powered solutions to your problem as well, but they will cost you from $2000 to $4000.


One is a system I'm a qualified person on, by Tractel.

http://www.tractel....php?id_master=122

I've used the "Derope Up A" and the "Derope Up E"

They're *meant* for lowering a person, but those sytems are also rigged to allow you to winch someone up; so they do both.

You can even take an "uncontrolled descent" on one, like we would at work, if we had to escape a burning wind turbine as the last-man-out. You clip in and just...go.... it controls your downward speed (3'/sec).

We have to carry one every single time we climb a wind turbine tower, as our self-rescue device.
The winch part is nice, because if someone has fallen and are hanging from their fall arrest lanyard, you can pick them "up" with it just enough to unclip them, then lower them down.



The other device is the PowerQuick PQ500-1

http://powerquickinc.com/pq500-1.htm

A battery-powered portable capstan device which allows you to pull loads up to you, or clipped to you will pull you up to your anchor.

You can read the specs yourself. It's a pretty impressive device.

Last year I had emailed the folks who own that company, and who designed that device. Very nice people, a husband and wife. We were discussing the use of that device in mines not only for rescue applications, but also for ascending back up out of verticals using it as a power-assist, without having to frog.

It will also passively descend a line.

I had gotten a price list from them, but I don't know where I put it.




Lots of options out there. I'm tempted to save my shekels and purchase the powered device next time I'm able to. The possibilities it could open up for me would be almost endless.