Building a 6:1 Drop Loop Crevasse Rescue Haul System and Modifying It for Climbing Scenarios

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Before we get into crevasse rescue, which is the whole point of this video, let’s talk about something else, first.

If there is a common theme I’m trying to hold to throughout this channel, it’s that climbing safety is about having a set of options and then choosing wisely from amongst those options. I bristle at the idea that there is only one way to do things. In fact, I would say that the assumption that there is a single best way that works for every circumstance probably makes us less safe. We can end up applying a skill or a tool in a way that isn’t ideal, or maybe even dangerous.

Here’s a simple example: If we use a highly static sling, one made with Dyneema or Aramid or the like, as a personal anchor system, we can actually break that sling if we take a stance above the anchor and then slip and fall below the anchor. That would not happen with a dynamic material. So, why don’t we just always use a dynamic lanyard or other similar material. Well, it doesn’t rack well. It’s heavier. Depending upon the design, it might not be able to do anything else than work as a personal anchor device, where as a sling can be used to sling horns, build other anchors with, etc.

So, I take a dynamic personal anchor system when I set up top rope climbs that I will approach from the top. This happens a lot when I climb with the kids. The local climbing crag might have a walk around to the top. I take that walk around. I come up to some bolts, from above. I want to anchor myself in for safety as I build the top rope anchor. Being above the bolts while I do all of this, I want to make sure my personal anchor material can take that type of accident that would break an extremely static material.

But when that predictable approach from above the anchor is unlikely, I’d rather have lighter material that is more adaptable to other uses.

Okay, so that’s where this crevasse rescue system comes in. I’ve tried to present a complete system that is capable of working when no one else is around, and we have to be completely self reliant. It’s a system that at least has the potential to work even if our fallen climber is unconscious. But I’ve also tried to present ways to modify the system to deal with less severe circumstances. It can be reduced down to just a simple loop of dropped rope, at the other extreme end of the continuum from complicated and robust to simple and immediate.

And it can be adapted to differing equipment. Now, I strongly prefer to use a Petzl Micro Traxion as the capture device for the haul system, and the video will show you why. I also strongly prefer the Petzl Tibloc for the quickest possible way to create the z-pully connection in the haul system. Not only is it faster, it is also less likely to freeze over than many cord materials that we often use to make friction hitches (which is the replacement option to a Tibloc).

A robust system: something strong enough and stable enough to work when things are going badly.

An effective system: works efficiently and deals with the most fundamental problems that happen in a crevasse rescue (usually the rope cut into the crevasse lip).

An adaptable system: can be modified to work in different scenarios by making the right decisions at the right points in the process. This is not the “single way that works for every circumstance” solution.