itinerary | meeting place and time | prerequisite skills | PDF file with equipment list

As climbers we operate in a potentially dangerous environment and need to take personal responsibility for ourselves and the consequences of our actions. But only Rube Goldberg could imagine all the weird and difficult situations that climbers might find themselves in as a result of an accident or other emergency while climbing. Rather than learning by creating and then solving complicated rescue scenarios it’s more important to be familiar with improvised rescue tools such as knots and cordelettes and to understand systems that including rope ascending or rappelling with an injured person. Familiarity with these techniques will give you the skill and confidence you need to be able to handle an emergency rescue, should the need arise.

Self Rescue is a complex problem. Every situation is different and it will never be possible to give a complete list of solutions to an infinite variety of problem. You will be encouraged to self solve the problems and the most common phrase you will hear will be, “Well what do you think?” There may be a number of ways to achieve a given goal and you will be encouraged to develop a wide range of skills. The technique we have developed is not to attempt to teach solutions. Our progression introduces a variety of different tools and once you are comfortable with these you will be shown how to combine them into a variety of techniques. Then it is up to you to apply these techniques in various combinations to arrive at a solution to your problem.
These problems may include; rescuing a second, rescuing a leader, evacuating a victim off the cliff by descending or raising or simply solving a climbing problem.
As well, we will discuss how not to get into these situations to start with which is by far the most elegant solution.

Itinerary:
Topics covered will include:
Day one: Equipment necessary for prepared self rescue anchoring and knot skill check, rescue overview, belay escape using various systems, ascending ropes with friction hitches, long lowers with two ropes tied together including how to pass the knot, rappelling safety, passing knots in rappels, descending with an injured person.
Day two: Haul systems and putting it all together in scenarios.

Meeting place and time: We will meet the first day at 7.30 a.m. at the world headquarters of Sierra Mountain Center, 174 W. Line Street, in Bishop. Line Street is an east/west street marked by the southern-most traffic light on Main Street/Highway 395, in town. We’re west of the light, on the south side of the street next to the health food store. A large parking lot is located on the south side of the building. Plan on already having had a good breakfast.

Dates and Prices: Please refer to our course schedule PDF file. Click here to get it. Price includes guiding, permits and all necessary group climbing gear. It does not include camping, hotels or food.

Ratios: a maximum of six participants to one instructor.

Notes and other information: We recommend reading the following books.
American Alpine Club Safety Committee: Accidents in North American Mountaineering, AAC, yearly
Fasulo, David J. How To Rock Climb: Self Rescue, Falcon Press, 1996
Long, John. How To Rock Climb: Climbing Anchors, Falcon Press, 1993
Long, John. How To Rock Climb: More Climbing Anchors, Falcon Press, 1996
Luebben, Craig. How To Rock Climb: Knots for Climbers, Falcon Press, 1996
Selters, Andy. Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue. The Mountaineers, 1990

Prerequisites: This course assumes that you are competent at creating and assessing anchors appropriate to any climbing situation. Additionally, you should have a good repertoire of knots, be familiar with rappelling, and have experience with multi pitch climbing.