Founder and consultant at Over The Edge Rescue. Rescuer, instructor, guide, author, designer, and adventurer.
In cave rescue, we had been using the Double Sheet Bend for rigging – being easy to adjust, especially in the middle of a rope or cord and easier to untie after significant loading. I was recently (2021) undertaking testing to confirm our cave rescue setup (see the post Let’s lighten the load – update), […]
What’s in this post? We review how to set up 8mm Prusik loops for 10mm rescue rope. Context Prusik Loops are tied with 3-wraps (3-on-3) onto the rescue rope to form a progress capture or rope grab in a pulley system for rope rescue. Pulley system setup Prusik Cord The Prusik cord we choose to […]
What’s in this post? This post is about the theory and testing behind why making a piece of webbing into a sling is 2x the strength of a single strand. We address the specific question about tension on a single section of sling around a carabiner at the end and draw vectors to show what […]
What’s in this post? Testing of a lighter weight jigger (4:1CD/5:1 pre-rigged pulley system) using a 5mm Prusik and a 6mm high strength cord made with a Dyneema core with a polyester sheath. We also address the weight and volume of a jigger to compare the lighter weight version with a standard version using a 6mm Prusik […]
What’s in this post? The basics for webbing anchors: So you know why you are using webbing anchors, what to use, set up and four ways of rigging. How to rig webbing anchors efficiently: Get the right (minimum) webbing length, rather than halfway through a rigging job finding out you are short and have to start […]
What’s in this post? Slow Pull testing the figure-8 device block variations with normal loading and incorrect loading. We also compare this to baseline methods such as the Munter mule overhand and figure-8 on a bight. Efficiency tests (speed) to find out if there is there any major differences in tying methods. Practical use comparisons […]
Canyon Rope Rescue Testing 2021 In February 2019, a team of people from the NZ Canyoning Association got together for a weekend to discuss setting up CanyonSAR for New Zealand (as a specialist discipline under New Zealand Land SAR). As part of this weekend, we discussed and practised rope rescue in the canyoning context with […]
What’s in this post? The question we are going to answer in this post is: When you drill a hole through a rock and thread a cord what is the best setup for bends, cord and rock strength. We have used an 8mm Nylon cord for cave rescue and a 6mm Dyneema cord for canyoning […]
Webbing in hangers The question we are going to answer in this post is: Is it ok to rig using webbing directly into new bolt hangers? I have rigged and used both inline and two-point anchors in a canyoning situation for years and never had any reason to be concerned. However, it was time to put […]
Back-tie rigging – tension and compression forces The other day I had a question come through about how I worked out the tension and compression forces for a post, pole or tree when you back-tie for support. The context? Before I get to the question, we need to set the context: The front anchor is […]
