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Leading abseiler falls unconscious. What to do? |
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21-Aug-2014 5:49:34 PM
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On 19/08/2014 martym wrote:
>...She prussiked the thirty meters back up to the ledge and rigged up
>a simple two-way pulley system through a carabiner.
A useful system to have sorted and practiced. Think about taking a light pulley on more remote cliffs?
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21-Aug-2014 5:58:54 PM
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On 19/08/2014 simey wrote:
>Although the unconscious abseiler scenario is very unlikely, weird accidents
>do happen.
I agree
I have been in situations (canyoning) many times where I have been very nervous about loose rocks at the top of a long abseil. Even a small stone at speed can do a lot of damage. In this situation you have to be wary of moving the rope around too much whilst descending and those waiting should stay well back from the edge to avoid dislodging anything while moving about.
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22-Aug-2014 1:22:28 PM
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On 21/08/2014 DMWdesign wrote:
>On 21/08/2014 gnaguts wrote:
>>Even if not releasable, sufficient knowledge in rescue techniques could
>>make it so after the event.
>
>that would be difficult wouldn't it, if he/she was abseiling double rope?
>you'd have to have a spare rope, do a small haul to release load at the
>anchor point etc.
>That would work if the abseil rope was threaded through a snaplink but
>not if through chains or something you couldn't undo or cut. (or cut the
>rope!!)
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>But then again if you had a spare rope (of sufficient length) would it
>not be easier to do a pick-off?
If abseiling on a doubled rope the abseil is relatively short and not subject of scenarios described in this thread? Even so, rescue skills should include unweighting loaded anchors, transferring loaded ropes to other anchors, escaping the system etc. Yup, you might end up having to cut a rope if that meant getting an unconscious person down quicker safely. If full length doubles are used, once load is taken the unweighted knot can be untied if necessary.
What is unstated but still likely in a climbing site discussion is that climbers, unlike many abseilers, usually have some gear (like slings etc), at hand to improvise self rescue with, especially on multipitch. I don't know any that carry spare ropes thpough, but maybe bomber pro does cos he can tie knots one handed blindfolded, and has a rope log to extend the life of his ropes.
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22-Aug-2014 1:57:00 PM
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On 13/08/2014 JimmyJimJam wrote:
>My question is;
>What would you do if you were rappelling off a route and your partner
>("ahead/bellow)" falls unconscious? Autoblock assumed.
Lots of good discussion above, but here is my 2 cents anyway:
Before you rush into building a pully system and pulling out your laces out to tie prusik knots, you should recognise that you are in a first aid situation, and hence can follow the first aid procedure DRABC, particularly the first step, which is to assess the danger that your partner has succumb to and make sure that you do no suffer the same fate.
So why is your partner unconscious? If it is snake bite, rockfall, lack of oxygen or some other cause that is due to your partners location, then perhaps it is wise to not go down the rope and have 2 unconscious climbers instead of 1. If it is exhaustion, dehydration or exposure first check that you are not also suffering from one of these. If you have determined that it is some other factor that won't happen to you (i.e. you dropped your water bottle on his head and knocked him out), then you can start thinking about how to get to him.... provided of course that you have the daylight, food, drink and clothing to get you through the duration of what is going to be a grueling few hours.
But before you do any of that it's probably a wise idea to call 000, and/or attract the attention of a near by person, and/or pop your epirb off.
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22-Aug-2014 4:25:56 PM
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They've added an S and a D to DR ABC so it's DRS ABCD now. S is "send for help" because apparently people kept forgetting. D is for Defib if there's one handy.
http://stjohn.org.au/assets/uploads/fact%20sheets/english/DRSABCD%20A4%20poster.pdf
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22-Aug-2014 4:43:22 PM
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On 22/08/2014 ajfclark wrote:
>They've added an S and a D to DR ABC so it's DRS ABCD now. S is "send
>for help" because apparently people kept forgetting. D is for Defib if
>there's one handy.
ahh, thanks. Guess it's been a while since I did first aid training.
I was taught that you can add a D for dangerous bleeding.
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