I am loving your videos. Please keep them coming! I have a quick question: @8:23 you start attaching a french prusik/autoblock to secure yourself to the rope while you are rigging. Is there a reason why you opted for this rather than a standard prusik which tends to be grippier? I would imagine that for personal safety, it might be nicer to have something that is not as prone to slipping. Cheers!
Arnold Kotlyarevsky hi there, I have friends and colleagues that prefer the classic, you are very right it is more grabby, personally I find that can almost be a negative as it becomes fiddly to manage as it won’t move around as easily as the French🥴, particularly if I am rigging in gloves. As soon as something is a bit awkward with these safety protocols I find people easily slip into the ‘I can’t be bothered’ mindset and then don’t actually attached themselves. Definitely a great point to discuss and I try not to get to fixed on how people attach themselves as long as they are attached safely and manage it well. Excellent point, thank you.
Very nice demo Sam, great attention to detail and explanations. I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but when using the same rope for rigging and abesiling, do you make sure that the amount of spare rope is also the full length of the abseil? (For the rare occasion that the abseil needs releasing near the top and the client can only be "rescued" when back on the ground)
Andrew Dineen hi there, thanks for the feedback. It’s a really good question too, I don’t actually worry about that. It would mean taking a lot of rope to many crags with big abseils. I tend to think of the reservoir rope just for solving things like entrapment etc, things where all that needs to be done is to transfer the clients weight onto the safety by loosening the ab rope. If something super mission critical happened, unconscious client etc, you would find that their body weight would, in all likelihood, allow them to be lowered on the safety as the ab rope would pull through the figure of eight anyway. If that didn’t happen, maybe very young and light students or fat ab rope and it was that much of an emergency I would get the safety super tight and just cut the ab rope! We have to remember, particularly in the context of the RCI, that the syllabus states ‘simple and common problems’. The scenario where you would have to deal with that sort of a situation is absolutely not simple or thankfully common. (I have never heard of anyone having to do anything like that). I started at a outdoor centre in 1988 and have never despite running hundreds, if not more, abseils have ever had to release a rope for any reason what so ever. Can not think of any colleagues that have either. But I am sure there are people who have needed to it’s, it makes sense and is great to have the option of taking the tension out of the ab rope. One of things we make quite a big deal of with instructors (at all levels) is knowing when it is time to ring for help. You cannot expect to self rescue everything that could happen, for anything major getting the pros in to manage an incident is definitely the best course of action for all involved. I reinforce this to CWI, RCI, MCI and WMCI candidates, we have a duty of care to our clients and the second rule of 1st aid is to prevent further injury. It is possible to self rescue all sorts of mad things but as soon as someone is unconscious or suffering a broken bone they need proper care and not improvised rescue unless that is absolutely the only option or the incident is super time critical/life threatening for the casualty. In this case with the ab I would definitely cut the ab rope and lower them on the safety. Long answer to a short question! Sorry. I do think some people ask for MCI level of problem solving at RCI, it’s not needed, particularly if the instructor is observant and diligent in their group management. Simple and common remember. Does that make sense? Feel free to email if you would like more info😃🤗
@@LeadingEdgeMountain Hi Sam, thanks for the time and detailed response, as usual. I am always imagining (and practising) getting out of complex scenarios, but they are often beyond the remit of RCI 😂. Knowing when to call for help is a very important skill in the mountains too. It all makes sense and like you said, in the highly unlikely event, if you ever did have the abseil rope stuck/stopping the lower to the ground, you could just cut it. Less faff than carrying all that extra rope that may never be needed I suppose. Thanks for your input.
Andrew Dineen It’s very dramatic cutting a rope😱, I have never heard of that having to be done in this context but that certainly doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to someone😵. Any Stories like that, particular if it happened to someone in a professional capacity would normally be shared extensively so people can learn from it. Scary thought😳. I do always carry a knife though. 🤣
Andrew Dineen Have actually used mine against a rope twice. Once in a MCI context and once personal climbing in winter. It does get used much more often to cut apples🤣
Excellent video - best explanation and demo I've seen
Really great teaching. Clear, useful and informative. Thanks guys!!
Really useful. Thanks Sam. Looking forward to part 2
This channel is JUST what I'm looking for! Keep it up! Love the content and can't wait to learn more!
I am loving your videos. Please keep them coming! I have a quick question: @8:23 you start attaching a french prusik/autoblock to secure yourself to the rope while you are rigging. Is there a reason why you opted for this rather than a standard prusik which tends to be grippier? I would imagine that for personal safety, it might be nicer to have something that is not as prone to slipping. Cheers!
Arnold Kotlyarevsky hi there, I have friends and colleagues that prefer the classic, you are very right it is more grabby, personally I find that can almost be a negative as it becomes fiddly to manage as it won’t move around as easily as the French🥴, particularly if I am rigging in gloves. As soon as something is a bit awkward with these safety protocols I find people easily slip into the ‘I can’t be bothered’ mindset and then don’t actually attached themselves. Definitely a great point to discuss and I try not to get to fixed on how people attach themselves as long as they are attached safely and manage it well. Excellent point, thank you.
BFK....one of Mountain Rescue's favourite knots! ;)
Very nice demo Sam, great attention to detail and explanations.
I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but when using the same rope for rigging and abesiling, do you make sure that the amount of spare rope is also the full length of the abseil? (For the rare occasion that the abseil needs releasing near the top and the client can only be "rescued" when back on the ground)
Andrew Dineen hi there, thanks for the feedback. It’s a really good question too, I don’t actually worry about that. It would mean taking a lot of rope to many crags with big abseils. I tend to think of the reservoir rope just for solving things like entrapment etc, things where all that needs to be done is to transfer the clients weight onto the safety by loosening the ab rope.
If something super mission critical happened, unconscious client etc, you would find that their body weight would, in all likelihood, allow them to be lowered on the safety as the ab rope would pull through the figure of eight anyway. If that didn’t happen, maybe very young and light students or fat ab rope and it was that much of an emergency I would get the safety super tight and just cut the ab rope!
We have to remember, particularly in the context of the RCI, that the syllabus states ‘simple and common problems’. The scenario where you would have to deal with that sort of a situation is absolutely not simple or thankfully common. (I have never heard of anyone having to do anything like that).
I started at a outdoor centre in 1988 and have never despite running hundreds, if not more, abseils have ever had to release a rope for any reason what so ever. Can not think of any colleagues that have either. But I am sure there are people who have needed to it’s, it makes sense and is great to have the option of taking the tension out of the ab rope.
One of things we make quite a big deal of with instructors (at all levels) is knowing when it is time to ring for help. You cannot expect to self rescue everything that could happen, for anything major getting the pros in to manage an incident is definitely the best course of action for all involved. I reinforce this to CWI, RCI, MCI and WMCI candidates, we have a duty of care to our clients and the second rule of 1st aid is to prevent further injury. It is possible to self rescue all sorts of mad things but as soon as someone is unconscious or suffering a broken bone they need proper care and not improvised rescue unless that is absolutely the only option or the incident is super time critical/life threatening for the casualty.
In this case with the ab I would definitely cut the ab rope and lower them on the safety. Long answer to a short question! Sorry. I do think some people ask for MCI level of problem solving at RCI, it’s not needed, particularly if the instructor is observant and diligent in their group management. Simple and common remember.
Does that make sense? Feel free to email if you would like more info😃🤗
@@LeadingEdgeMountain Hi Sam, thanks for the time and detailed response, as usual. I am always imagining (and practising) getting out of complex scenarios, but they are often beyond the remit of RCI 😂. Knowing when to call for help is a very important skill in the mountains too. It all makes sense and like you said, in the highly unlikely event, if you ever did have the abseil rope stuck/stopping the lower to the ground, you could just cut it. Less faff than carrying all that extra rope that may never be needed I suppose.
Thanks for your input.
Andrew Dineen It’s very dramatic cutting a rope😱, I have never heard of that having to be done in this context but that certainly doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to someone😵. Any Stories like that, particular if it happened to someone in a professional capacity would normally be shared extensively so people can learn from it. Scary thought😳. I do always carry a knife though. 🤣
@@LeadingEdgeMountain you never know when you'll need it 😂 ... to butter some toast.
Andrew Dineen Have actually used mine against a rope twice. Once in a MCI context and once personal climbing in winter. It does get used much more often to cut apples🤣
Loving the videos. I'm learning loads. Thank you. Big "Fat" Knot you say... How many times did you say that wrong ;-)