ART of Canyoneering

If you have used a Purcell Prusik you know it is a versatile tool. You might say the same about a simple cordelette. I have recently started experimenting with a Canyon Cordelette – a cordelette with a 3 over 2 Prusik on one end to add the benefits of a Purcell. Mine is made with 18 feet (6 meters) of 7mm accessory cord. The 3 over 2 Prusik was tied with the tail. The tail is secured with a grapevine knot (half a double fisherman).

I anticipate the following uses:

• Tandem rappels
• Pick-off rescues
• Passing a knot when hauling
• Equalizing an anchor
• Pre-tensioned front tie or back tie
• Adjustable length PCD (tie cord onto rope with a hitch?)
• Adjustable foot loop for ascending
• Adjustable safety line (anchor to edge)
• Load releasing hitch

I will post instructions and photos as I further develop each of these techniques.

Squeezing through a very tight section, your plus-size partner becomes stuck. What can you do to help free him?

Of course, it always depends on the specific situation, but here are a couple techniques that have worked:

1. Rig a 2:1 mini-haul above the subject. One rescuer serves as anchor by positioning himself in a secure chimney or stem position with the rope (or webbng) fixed to his harness. Rope runs through a carabiner on the subject’s harness. If the tie-in point is not accessible, rig a runner around his chest under his armpits and attach the carabiner there. Second rescuer hauls up on the rope/webbing.

2. Provide a foot loop for the subject to step up in. Dependent on subject’s ability to turn his feet. He may not be able to see his feet, in which case someone will need to provide directions and/or use a stick to position the loop.

NOTE: We sometimes set up this scenario during rescue classes. In one of those classes, students were able to get a foot loop (tied in the end of a rope) to the subject. They attempted to haul (with subject’s foot in loop, leg locked straight), but were not hauling straight up. The pull twisted the subject diagonally, making the situation worse. It could have worked if they pulled slower and communicated better with the subject to ensure their efforts were coordinated with his.

These photos show the Totem in use in a lowering system during a practice rescue operation conducted as part of a Rigging for Rescue course in Ouray, Colorado.

The rope was rigged on a Scarab in low-friction mode with a Totem rigged behind it in plaquette mode. The Totem provided an auto-locking mechanism. Hands off and the Totem locks off. Lever the bottom end of the Totem to release and lower. Lowering speed can be easily controlled using the lever.

The blue rope in the photos is the anchor rigging. The dark blue cord on the lower left in the upper photo is a prusik standing by for converting the lowering system to a haul.