Founder and consultant at Over The Edge Rescue. Rescuer, instructor, guide, author, designer, and adventurer.
Forces on an inclined plane and Tippy the tip truck How do you figure out the forces is a common question I get when teaching a particular subject. None more so than those on an inclined plane (or slope). Rather than getting onto the whiteboard to explain, from time to time, I bring out Tippy the […]
Pulley system progression – is it worth it in practice? A pulley system progression is when you go from a small to a large mechanical advantage (MA). For example, from a 3:1s (s means simple) to 3:1sCD (CD means Change of Direction) to a 5:1s, to a 9:1c (c means compound). Note: You need some prior […]
Vlad to help – a replacement for the master carabiner Back in November 2018, I decided to purchase a Grivel Vlad and put it on my harness to see if it was going to be a useful addition. The Vlad could be helpful as a master carabiner for anchor station organisation for multiple clip-ins. There are […]
The perfect storm – keep an eye on your rigging We were on a canyoning trip recently when we were using a figure-8 abseil device as a block. Over the last eight years, I have probably rigged it over 500 times and never had an issue. However, on this occasion, all the holes in the Swiss […]
Reasons why jiggers don’t perform as well as they should As we head around various rescue groups, we find many jiggers (aka a set of fours) are rigged incorrectly or operate inefficiently. Despite leaving everything in good working order, we often come back at a later time and see the jigger fairies have come in […]
Progress capture testing for a jigger I was about to post an article about the jigger (aka a set of fours) – how to build (and troubleshoot) using a couple of small double pulleys and cord (coming soon). I tried to remember if I had ever tested the progress capture Prusik as this would be […]
Lightweight systems – testing to the next level Once you start testing you is realise there is more testing to do. The testing aimed to push the limits of the belay for the lightweight rescue system. We decided on a 1.5m drop on 3m of rope with a 200kg load. Back in 2017, we did […]
Lightweight rope rescue setup By drawing the systems we found that it defined what we need to take with us. Mainline rescue gear A rescue team of four One of the aims of going lightweight is to bring rescue back to being normal. Let’s plan out the system around what we would normally carry for […]
The American Death Triangle in the real world Recently (Feb 2018) I wrote a blog on the forces involved in the American Death Triangle. I questioned if there were some occasions we can use this style of rigging. Note: I would recommend reading this first article before diving into this one: American Death Triangle and […]
Mechanical rescue belay for 10mm rope? Putting two belay devices with assisted braking through their paces We tested rescue belays (belay devices with assisted braking) as they would function as part of a two-rope system for lightweight back-country rescue. Out in the real world of the backcountry, you often don’t have dry clean conditions. So […]
