Leavenworth Rock Guides: Improvised Rock Rescue Course

Rock rescue is one of the more commonly overlooked aspects of rock climbing. We routinely climb with very good climbers who don't have a practiced system for basic rock rescue skills such as escaping the belay, ascending fixed lines, and raising or lowering an injured climber. Both John and Olivia have been required to perform complicated rescue drills as part of their AMGA Rock and Alpine certifications. While these courses are not endorsed by the AMGA, the skills taught here draw from their recent experiences on AMGA courses and exams. These drills represent the basic set of skills needed to raise, lower, or stabilize and injured climbing partner or to help other parties you might encounter in the course of climbing.

Topics covered include: escaping the belay, raises, lowers, ascending fixed line, 2:1, 3:1, 5:1, and 6:1 mechanical advantage systems, tandem rappels, pre-rigged rappels, reversible hitches, improvised chest harnesses, and a variety of other useful knots and hitches. This course usually takes a full day and one guide can generally teach this is to a large group of people. Participants should already be familiar with belaying, rappelling, and building anchors, and should know the following knots and hitches: figure eight, munter hitch, clove hitch, prussic hitch. If you are not familiar with these skills we can still run the program at a 1:1 ratio and get you up to speed.

Past participants have included recreational climbers, search and rescue personnel, and people entering AMGA courses that want to review the drills they will be tested in during their AMGA courses or exams. You do not need your own equipment for this program, but it makes sense to learn these skills with the equipment that you will be using when climbing on your own.

Itinerary

If run at a 1:1 ratio this program takes about 5 hours, and if run at a 2:1 or greater ratio the course takes 8 hours. Courses are scheduled on demand.

Qualifications

Participants should be familiar with belaying, basic climbing knots, and should be able build a solid climbing anchor.

Registration

To register for this course you should complete our domestic climbing application and return it to the Northwest Mountain School office. You can secure your course with a credit card by phone, but we must then obtain your completed application within 7 days. Feel free to call us at 509-548-5823 to discuss the trip. More registration details here.