Ouray Mountain Rescue Refresher

The Ouray Mountain Rescue Team recently completed a 3-day Rigging for Rescue workshop.  Included in the field exercises were the 2-attendant moderate slope lower and raise and guiding line pictured below.  It's always fun to train in the sunshine with close friends!

2-Attendant Technique








Guiding Line

Pike 'n Pivot

Pike 'n Pivot is a technique developed by Rigging for Rescue in the mid 1990's as a method for negotiating a 90 degree edge with no high directional.  The technique greatly reduces the effort needed to execute a difficult edge transition using more traditional methods.

The footage below shows a Pike 'n Pivot during an open enrollment seminar in Ouray in September of this year.

Rigging for Washington

Rigging for Rescue instructor and Denali National Park mountaineering ranger Brandon Latham is currently in Washington DC as as rigging consultant for the ongoing repairs to the Washington Monument.  Learn more about the project here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/destinations/story/2011-09-29/Expert-team-faces-a-monumental-task-in-Washington/50610458/1

Updated Website

New content in the updated Rigging for Rescue website includes:

-2012 open enrollment calendar for both the Rigging for Rescue and Update and Beyond seminars.
-Information and photos for the 2012 Mountain Rescue Week
-Information about contract testing
-And selected testing videos

Included in the testing videos now available on the website is this favorite, which many may recall from past Rigging for Rescue seminars

About this video:
200kg test mass. Fall factor zero. 10.5mm climbing rope (aka dynamic rope). 30m of rope-in-service using a Tandem Prusik Belay. More than 5m of stop distance. High elongation ropes - like a climbing rope - are not appropriate as rescue belay lines. 

Rigging for Rescue is producing this video for promotional purposes. It is not comprehensive and is not intended to be instructional. Further, Rigging for Rescue reserves all intellectual property associated with this video.

Ice Workshop 2012

This year's ice workshop will run from January 15-20 in Ouray, Colorado.  More information about this offering is available on the Rigging for Rescue website here: http://www.riggingforrescue.com/WI.html .

Here are some photos from previous Ice Workshops:





Rigging for Rescue also conducts ice workshops on a contract basis.  Contact the RfR office for pricing and scheduling.

Destruction in the name of Education

Rigging for Rescue’s slow pull machine, dubbed “The Rack”, has been brought out for two recent seminars. Seminar participants were invited to test knots, anchor systems, hardware, and any other item that they wanted to see pulled to failure. Clearly these tests can only be considered “quick-look” and non-comprehensive testing.


This Prusik bypass failed at 27.4 kN

Paint it Black

Members of Rocky Mountain Fire and West Metro Fire collaborated for a Rigging for Rescue seminar in Ouray last month.  Part of the curriculum included a multipitch lower off of the Alimony Wall in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  Home to the biggest walls in Colorado, the Black Canyon is a true gem.  Kudos to the seminar participants who executed this exercise in good form.