Just curious for the climbers out there that do multi pith, how much self rescue do you know? What do you feel are some required skills to know before multi pitching? What about multi pitching with beginners?

Know how to escape the belay. Get to immobilized climber and perform a tandem rappel for starters.

Escape a belay
Ascend a rope
Rig a mechanical advantage hauling system with biners and slings
Aid/french free
Use a munter hitch
Lock off a rappel with a mule knot
Rig a biner brake
Rig a garda hitch
Rig a rescue rappel

The only one I've ever used because I had to (which I really didn't- I could have rapped to get the gear I lowered from) is french freeing through a crux. The only one I've only tried once (with a pack simulating the other person) is the rescue rappel. The rest I've done multiple times, but never on a route in an actual situation. Every once in a while I'll take my gear and ropes out to a station I have set up in my yard and go through stuff. I could probably stand to be more proficient at all of these, but I feel like if the situation arose where I had to employ any of them, I could.

As far as multi-pitching with beginners- if they're leading they should know all of this stuff on a rudimentary level at the very least. I would say required techniques if they're not leading are escaping a belay, using a munter hitch, and ascending a rope. YMMV.

+1 jake ^^^^^ personally I do practice all of what he listed on a regular basis, more in part of teaching newbies than keeping myself proficient. I think there is a huge gap in climbing training where the self rescue is talked about but rarely taught to newbies and thats why I make a point to teach it to any new climbers I run with. I have a local crag with a 100'+ near vertical 5.5 and chains on top that I find best for practicing and teaching the tech about such, very controlled to prevent the lesson from becoming a real rescue.

I would echo what Jake said. Here's my priority list based on the possible scenarios:

Rescuing your second:
- Raise
- Lower
- Rappel down to
- Rappel down with

Rescuing a leader:
- Lower
- Escape a belay
- Ascend to leader
- Descend with leader

General skills needed:

- Escape a belay (belying a leader or a second)
- Descend to your partner (if they are seconding) – This could be counter-weight rappel
- Simple haul systems – z-drag, 2 to 1 assist (my fav)
- Passing a knot on rappel or a lower (2 ropes)
- Ascending a rope

There's a couple of good self-resuce videos out there by Alan Jolley. Check out the website:

www.guidetricksforclimbers.com

I've taken a course with Alan and own both videos in the series. The systems used in the videos are also taught on AMGA guides courses. Pretty sweet systems and very simple. Assisting a second you just need to know a munter hitch, mule knot, and a friction hitch and add one to two carabiners and you are set.

i think that a lot of climbers talk big about self rescue and insist they can do it ... but they dont go and practice it enough and in a real world situation, theyll have real issues ...

im sure there are people out there who are well versed and practiced in it ... but its fewer than what people claim ...

as to what to practice get this book and practice the scenarios at least once a year



the reality is that if yr a in popular area and yr climber is really hurt, yr calling 911 if you can ... get the EMTs on the scene as soon as possible and dont risk further injuries to the climbers because of a "self rescue" ego thing ...

if you are in a more remote area ... both of you should know enough and be experienced ... and honestly a PLB is not a bad investment at that point

the best thing to do of course is avoid getting in a rescue situation ...

I recommend starting with the basics that you are most likely to use. Escaping a belay is good to know but I have never had to use that skill in 12 years of multipitch climbing. I recommend starting with the things you are more likely to encounter:

How to deal with stuck rappel ropes. Both a) if you have both ends still and b) if you only have one end.

How to bail off routes without fixed anchors.

Confidently self belaying up and down a fixed rope.

Rope management while rappelling in high winds.

How to rap safely with a beginner.

These are the skills that have been useful to me. I am glad I know how to escape a belay, but I recommend starting with these here which you will encounter way more often.

+1 to both bear and Eric. That's a good book, and I go through it every couple months or so when I get bored. You're right too bear. I think a lot of people thumb through shit, look at it and think "ok, that seems simple enough" and never really get out and practice it. As with anything else, you get your gear out and practice and find out that once practical application starts, it's not all that simple and to be proficient, you have to do it over and over again.

Add to that the stress of shitting a meat axe when something goes horribly wrong, and you have yourself a grade A nightmare on your hands. The two most common I've seen are stuck ropes, and dropped belay devices- not really the stuff of nightmares, but if you're not prepared to handle the situation, it can be bad. I have been involved in a rescue where a friend broke his ankle pretty badly. Thankfully, he was able to be lowered and stabilized. We were in a pretty remote location with a three hour approach with low fifth class sections. He ended up being plucked off by a helo, but we had a raising system and gear-anchored tethers at the top ready in case the helo couldn't get to him. I'm glad it did. I was dreading that raise and the litter trip back down the mountain.

Needless to say, I spent the next couple of weeks brushing up on self rescue, and my buddy ended up buying me and the other guy climbing with us Mini Traxions for administering first aid and freezing our asses off all night with him. Here's a link to the story if anyone's interested. The comments are somewhat entertaining.

Excellent. Thanks for all te responses. I was asking because its kind of scary when a new climber asks why they need to know to multi pitch and these skills aren't even mentioned.

+1 for practice.

It's great to know this stuff, but you'll lose it if you don't practice it constantly. Just like taking a first aid course. Best case scenario, you never need to use that knowledge, but better have it ready in case you do.

+1 also for the above comments on prevention. Best way to avoid a rescue is just having your systems dialed and making good decisions along the way.

The rescue techniques are great to learn. They can take a scenario and turn it from a full blown epic into a minor inconvenience. Scary how many people out there on long routes think they know enough to just figure it out if something happens. Self-rescue is also about begin quick, efficient, and safe. A few minutes here and there can make the difference between riding out a lighting storm on the last pitch or being back at the car.

I love listening to other people explain how to escape a belay - they make it way too complicated. I have read that red self rescue book, it is pretty good. However, the author spends three pages just showing you how to escape the belay with some complicated 15 step method. Escaping the belay, especially with a locking belay device, really is not that hard and it can be accomplished in only a few steps.

know a ton.

I guess things I've actually seen or used in a practical sense for recreational climbing --

hauling a second for a quick move or two,
releasing a loaded line for a little slack (without dumping someone),
rapping with someone,
escaping belay/transferring to an anchor,
ascending a line.

I guess you could also combine some of those for the crevasse situation, which are good skills to be dialed in with.

Probably the biggest thing is just being able to bail safely. A lot of which is solved by good route finding, simply knowing how to make anchors, and patience/not making the situation worse.


Anything in addition to the recreational in my experience has been full-on rescue for full body immobilization, complex medical, or some other rigging need (professional/moving loads). Granted, that's outside the norm of being in a recreational climbing partner type deal. I'm more minimalistic than I used to be about what climbers really need to know and do -- if all a partner can do is get to a safe anchor because someone is all banged up, that's fine with me.

Just buy a SPOT.

I've seen at least 2 reputable climbing movies where the belayer cuts the rope and it worked out ok for some of the folks.

Keep your knife sharp.

Munther mule overhand =MMO


MMO in climbing rope to lock atc
Build ground anchor
MMO securing Prussic to ground anchor. Prussic on climbers strand of climbing rope
With brake strand of climbing rope tie a MMO PROPERLY oriented onto locker in master point of ground anchor.
Check your system.
undo MMO off atc
Belay ont Prussic
Take slack through with MMO from climbing rope in master point of ground anchor and retie MMO with little slack in climbing rope.
Undo Prussic MMO and belay weight onto MMO from climbing rope onto locker in ground anchor master point.

Can't really make it much simpler.