Lightweight rope rescue setup

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 rigging and personal rescue.

It would be reasonable to assume that each team member would already carry (as an example for caving but could be any similar back-country environment):

• Webbing sling
• Small ball bearing pulley on a carabiner
• 3x rigging/rescue carabiners
• Brakebar rack (or other abseil/belay device)

Combined team gear

• 4x webbing slings
• 4x pulleys
• 16x carabiners
• 4x Brakebar racks

What we need to bring

See the attached download to see all the gear you need and the setup.

Combined list for rescue gear

• 13x screw lock carabiners
• 2x small rigging plates
• 2x Prusik Minding Pulleys
• 4x pulleys
• 1x extender approx 100cm+ e.g.1.2m sling
• 3x sets of tandem Prusiks (long and short)
• 1x friction device for pretension
• 1x friction device for lowering

What’s left?

Taking away the gear the team already has:

• 13x screw lock carabiners
• 2x small rigging plates
• 2x Prusik Minding Pulleys
• 4x pulleys
• 1 extender approx 100cm+ e.g.1.2m sling
• 3x sets of tandem Prusiks (long and short)
• 1x friction device for pretension
• 1x friction device for lowering

Is this light enough?

• 2x small rigging plates (55g x 2) = 105grams
• 2x Prusik Minding Pulleys (80g x 2) = 160grams
• 3x sets of tandem Prusiks (long and short) (10g x 3) = 30grams
• TOTAL Weight = 295grams

Final thoughts

What I have presented here is a starter kit. For a rope rescue, there are a few more things which you need to throw in such as edge protection, anchoring, ropes and job-specific rigging.

Think carefully about the gear. Your biggest asset is skilled operators that can get the job done. Remember one of your main priorities is ‘the patient’ and getting them to safety in a timely way. They don’t care about how much equipment you have or how ‘technical’ your system is.

Grant Prattley at Over The Edge Rescue.