Crevasse rescue techniques????

[aussie69]

Just seeing how you all go about rescueing. links, personal uploaded diagrams, or a simple (or complex) explination... Feel free to leave any of your techniques. I'd love to see 'em.

[catbirdseat]

I think you are going to have to be a bit more specific than that. How many persons are doing the rescuing?

[Weekend_Climberz]

Edited December 11, 2006 by gapertimmy

[aussie69]

lets say one or two rescuers and one "in the whole"

[Dr_Flush_Amazing]

 

 

NITRO!!!

[Weekend_Climberz]

I would say that in most cases setting up a z-pulley would be for a last resort. The fallen climber should be able to extract themselves via prussiking. There are all sorts of issues with the rope cutting through the lip of the crevasse that you have to consider as well. Usually one end of the rope will be lowered to the fallen climber so that the peeps at the top can protect against this occurring.

[Jens]

I've always thought it would be cool to get a bunch of cc'ers together in the spring at Marymoor or something and share tricks of glacier roping stuff we've learned over the years (tricks that have never been put in books). We here in the cascades are probably the best in the world at roped glacier travel and rescue. Definitely better than what I've seen from Colorado,European, and Asian climbers.

[jonmf76]

Just get this book by Andy Selters.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Glacier-Travel-Crevasse-Rescue-Routefinding/dp/0898866588

 

It is a good place to start and covers what you'd need for basic glacier travel.

Edited December 15, 2006 by jonmf76

[sobo]

Weekend Climberz second post is spot on. There is no "one size fits all" response. One has to consider several things:

 

1. Who went in, an end person or the middle one? Your response will be slightly different depending upon your answer to this question. For instance, with an uninjured middle person in, just have the two end guys reef on the rope simultaneously while the middle person employs ice axe/crampons to help climb out on his/her own. For an end person, tie a loop into the other end of the rope, lower the loop to him/her, have them clip it into their harness, and proceed as above. Remember to protect the edge of the crevasse lip BEFORE extraction of the fallen climber to prevent the rope burying itself into the snow. Out in a jiffy, without a lot of fuss and downtime. This is essentially a 2:1 mechanical advantage system.

 

2. Is he/she conscious and uninjured? See above, or have him/her prussik him/herself out, or have him/her walk out one end if it's shallow enough to be lowered to a traversable ledge/shelf. This is essentially a 0 mech. adv. system.

 

3. Unconscious and/or seriously injured? Last resort - employ WC's first post (see diagram). Pad crevasse lip with handy objects while belaying yourself with your own prussik tied onto one of the free strands of rope that an end person carries coiled on their shoulder (this can also be done with the "interior" strands of rope that are on either side of the middle person, but no matter). Set the other "end" of this free strand back from the lip somewhere as your belay anchor. This is the classic 3:1 MA system with which we are all familiar.

 

You can find all of this kinda stuff in FOTH, and books like jon linked above.