Women's Aerial Rescue

[mrtree]

Women\'s Aerial Rescue

For those of you that attended ITCC can you suggest any reasons why the women did poorly on the aerial rescue. I watched a number of the women and learned alot about what to do and not do in an aerial rescue and climbing in general. I will read your replies before I put my thoughts forward.

Michael

 

[dynamicus]

Re: Women\'s Aerial Rescue

I watched all the women do the aerial rescue. Not to get into a sexist battle, but this is a timed event, and speed and strength is vital. The only difference in set up between the men and women was the height of the rescue dummy, roughly 10 feet. Some of the women weren't confident enough to footlock up to the dummy, instead they tried to hip thrust.
Having said that, the access line for the men was an arbormaster rope, the black, red, and white,... this rope holds many hitches quite well. The access line for the women was yellow jacket. One of the women tried to tie a french prusik and thought she was doing it wrong,...it was right but it would not bite on the yellow jacket.

On another note. It was quite scary to see the number of climbers, men and women, who did not dress thier knots before footlocking in the AR. Some had to hold a lock and dress the knot with one hand at the top. TDS! Tie, Dress, Set!

 

[mrtree]

Re: Women\'s Aerial Rescue

I saw a number of problems. I think the setup was harder for the women, they were not able to get above the dummy as the men where. Because of this they had to traverse sideways and most started to use too much gear. If you can get above the dummy it is easy to descend and bring the dummy down. Some of the women started to install false crotches then redirects and seem to be focused on gear and being fancy rather than following the simple technique of climbing and choosing the best limb to use as you crotch. Further a number did not footlock high enough and as such as they climbed onto the nearest limb they were above their knot and were DQed when they placed their hand above the prussick.

What I took from the event was to worry about climbing and KISS. The gadgets did not help to get the job done quickly and effectively.

Michael

 

[dynamicus]

Re: Women\'s Aerial Rescue

Very good points Michael. I agree that the set up was very challenging, and the overuse of equipment most likely hinderred each climbers success,...or lack of.
Not sure if you noticed, but one young lady made it to the first limb, played with her systems a bit, removed her lanyard, proceded to sit into her saddle and reach for her friction hitch only to find out that it wasn't there. She was not tied into the tree, and we all almost witnessed something terrible. Once agian leading to your point of overuse of equipment. Thankfully she realized and everything worked out well.

 

[treebeach]

Re: Women\'s Aerial Rescue- First Hand

Speaking from experience, I was one of the women climbers in the ITCC this year.

I think the setup was in fact a bit challenging regarding the position of the dummy. However I agree with Michael, until women have more experience (actual time climbing) and more importantly have more time to practice the aerial rescue will the event be completed by more if not all the women.

The aerial rescue is also an event that challenges almost all climbers, and is not an 'event' that climbers practice on a regular basis (for many logistical reasons).

Dr. John Ball has very sobering facts about the safety statistics about practicing aerial rescues...food for thought.

Speaking for my personal perfomance, I finished the event with plenty of time, however I was too excited once back at the ground to keep my head clear and finish appropriately. (I did not sweep the airway of the victim once down to the ground, and was deducted 24 points.) Practice makes consistant.