rescue

[treemanluke]

When preforming an aril rescue is it permissable to lower the injurd to the ground with a suitable device? If there a no obstructions that are requiering some one to access the victem or if he or she is partialy able bodied?

 

[Pete_in_Tassie]

Not permissable in any standard competition as far as I'm aware Luke. And I think the reason would be that people can go into shock, become unconscious, irrational, struggle, vomit, maybe try to undo things if they've sustained an injury especially head injuries. As far as I'm aware in competitions you are judged on your abilty to look after the person on the way down too.
Of course in reality if all that can be done in your situation is to lower them down then who knows it could have some merit. The way I was taught was to have no expectations that rescue would neccessarily be even possible by a climber given all the kinds of difficult circumstances that a victim could be in.
Pete

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Pete,

That's probably true for comps. But, if I were judging if the rescuer opted to lower the victim from the ground in good fashion I don't think I would have an issue. Case by case situation.

In real life, It might make sense for a climber to go and do the rescue. Then have someone on the ground do the lower. If you did that, the rescuer could be able to help the patient without dealing the ropes and hitch. From what I gather, this is the more normal SOP for rope rescue teams. The climber/rescuer takes care of themselves, the rest of the team deals with the patient.

There is an AR class here in the Denver area at the beginning of April. The class is being given with a fellow from the local fire department rescue squad. This is the way AR should be taught. We don't take kindly to fire fighters doing treework do we?