MKMC Learns to Rescue

Recently some members had expressed an interest in learning some valuable self-rescue skills. We should always plan not to get into tricky situations but if that happens, it’s great to be prepared with some simple and improvised techniques to get ourselves out of bother.

The Club was able to book a local MCI David Whiteley, who owns and operates Adventure Days UK adventuredaysuk.com/ for a 2-day course at Pinnacle Northampton. 6 members self-funded the course and subject to interest we may look to run another fixture in the future. The training requires prior knowledge of abseiling and anchor building but if you are interested, please contact a member of the committee.

During the course we covered tying off the belay, assisted and unassisted hoists, problem-solving, ascending, passing knots, escaping the system and rescuing on a traverse. Everyone agreed that the course was extremely valuable and a great time was had by all and there are some photos below to prove it.

For anyone with a copy of Libby Peter’s “Rock Climbing: Essential Skills and Techniques” these skills are covered in pages;
183 abseiling
187 the Italian hitch
217 ascending ropes
221 backing up a prussik
222 tying off a belay
223 prussiking up and down a rope
252 ascending with guide mode
265 assisted hoist
267 unassisted hoist
275 passing a knot

JB Mountain Skills and Leading Edge are also a great resource on YouTube.

REMEMBER: You don’t know what you don’t know. Climbing is dangerous, don’t attempt anything that you haven’t been taught by a professional or aren’t completely comfortable doing because getting it wrong may lead to injury or death.