Escape the Belay...then what?

So, I'm having a lot of trouble envisioning scenarios where escaping the belaying is warranted. Let's say I'm three pitches off the ground, the leader falls, she's not responding (there is only two of us). What then, I escape the belay and then solo up to her??? I escape the belay and down solo the climb and run back to my car and get help? I'm really confused here.

Give this a read:
amazon.com/Climbing-Self-Re…
Lots of scenarios covered and tons of helpful photos&diagrams.

EDIT: fixed link

So you can build a 17:1 hoist with more friction than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to haul a second with a really nasty booboo up 120 feet of slabby terrain in order to get off the route before next winter.

In my case, my leader fell past me. He was unconscious for several minutes while I escaped the belay. Even after he came to, he was unable to help himself. I had to rap down to him, the start simul rapping to the ground. In this accident he didn't make it. If I didn't know how to escape the belay, we would have both been hanging around until help arrived. Even if he didn't fall past me, I would have needed to escape the belay to be able to get close enough to render aid.

Self rescue techniques, first aid skill, these are things that are difficult to imagine how and where you will use them. I can only hope you never do use them. But it is far better to have some tools on the tool box of something goes wrong. Winging it is not a attractive option while in the moment. You'll find yourself wishing you had practiced more.

Use the rope to ascend ... if you believe that risk should be taken.

... and listen to Jon ^^^

Edit to add: ... and to rgold below vvv

The book T340 mentioned is good, and will answer your questions. Read that, then practice. It might be good to see if your local gym has a self-rescue class, or perhaps get a day with a guide to dial it in.

I couldn't open the link above, so here's a self-rescue book:

amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss…;field-keywords=fasulo+self+rescue

There are so many scenarios. Pretty much when it comes to self rescue the idea is to somehow convene with your partner at the anchor and then rappel down with them. In your scenario, if your partner is at the 4th bolt, you don't even have to escape the belay because you could just lower them (in rescue forget aboutyour draws, safety is far more valuable than gear) back to the anchor you are at and then rap down with them in an assisted rappel. If they were linking pitches and at their 12th piece, escape the belay and then maybe fixed-rope ascend up to them build a pro-anchor and put their and your weight on that then fix the top of the rope to said anchor, fixed rope descend unfix the rope from the bottom and then once again, fixed rope ascend back to the anchor where now you can get them on an assisted rappen down to the bottom of the pitch. It is certainly a pain in the ass, but nobody said rescue was easy.

There's a pretty good no-nonsense account on the web: chauvinguides.com/selfrescu….

Fasulo's most recent book, amazon.com/Self-Rescue-How-…, is probably the best written reference, as it is the only one that seems to recognize the need to get the fallen climber out of a hanging position if possible.

Understand that many of the self-rescue scenarios just aren't going to work in real situations, or if they do work, it will only because the climbers have practiced continually and extensively, which in my experience very few do. Climbers with a good amount of big-wall experience are going to be much better at self-rescue, not only because of all the things they have learned to do, but also because they have been challenged to improvise solutions that don't fit the textbook descriptions and have learned from those experiences as well.

Note too that some of the proposed self-rescue scenarios involve a significant rolling of the dice with the lives of the currently healthy party members.

The point of self-rescue training is to come away with a bunch of broadly applicable strategies, not a collection of step-by-step procedures which, for some unforeseen but not necessarily improbable reason, are not going to work in the pickle you actually find yourself in. In general, I'd say that if you can't solve your problem by escaping the belay and setting up tandem rappels for you and the injured climber, it is unlikely that you'll be able to effect a rescue and it is time to consider how to go for help yourself.

Speaking of help, most self-rescue procedures can be pretty dangerous for the party, even more so if they haven't been practiced a lot. If it is at all possible to call for help, this is usually going to be by far the best thing you can do.

Also, a cell phone (when you have reception) is a good tool to carry with you.

Before I get into this nothing beats instruction and practice. I read a lot of self rescue stuff that all seemed to make sense, but until I practiced and executed all the steps it hadn't really all clicked.

I completed a self-rescue clinic not too long ago and we practiced this very scenario. You don't specify, but I'm going to assume that your leader is past the half way point on the rope when they fall (because if they're less than half way you can just lower them down to you). This may be hard to follow/conceptualize without doing it or having someone walk you through it.

1. go hands free, set up friction hitch, attach to anchor, escape belay, fix rope to anchor, remove all other gear (you might need it).

2. ascend the fixed line using friction hitches

3. check on your climber and take any necessary immediate action

4. check the anchor, beef up anchor if necessary

5. attach leader to anchor with something releasable (friction hitch on rope then mariners hitch or munter/mule/overhand to anchor) and transfer victims load to the anchor

6. descend fixed line

7. set up for extended/tandem/counterweight rappel, put belay device into plaquette mode (attached to harness) so you can re-ascend, carefully release rope (with it in your device as a backup belay) from bottom anchor ensuring that your climber is secured to the top anchor, take your gear (again you might need it)

8. ascend in plaquette mode to top anchor (tie "oh shit" knots below your device as you go)

9. convert to counterweight rappel (remove slack, backup device with autoblock, get out of plaquette mode, weight the rope)

10. release victim from anchor, rappel to victim (leave the friction hitch and bring it with you so you can easily clip them to you to help manage the descent easier)

11. rappel as unit to ground/next anchor

If it's to the ground then no big deal you're good to go. If it's to another anchor/multiple more rappels are required then it's generally easiest to get out of the counterweight rappel and switch to a tandem rappel.

Hope that is helpful!

Bill Lawry wrote:Use the rope to ascend ... if you believe that risk should be taken. ... and listen to Jon ^^^

If your going to ascend the rope, you would fix it to the anchor you are currently at. And then hope that your fallen climbers weight would remain static and counter your weight?

Daniel Bookless wrote: If your going to ascend the rope, you would fix it to the anchor you are currently at. And then hope that your fallen climbers weight would remain static and counter your weight?

And hope the top piece holds.

Daniel Bookless wrote: If your going to ascend the rope, you would fix it to the anchor you are currently at. And then hope that your fallen climbers weight would remain static and counter your weight?

How easy is the terrain - no problem for you to free climb? How much pro - was she sewing it up or running it way out? Is her weight off the rope?

Say I'm belaying with a grigri and my partner has lead out past the halfway point so I can't just lower them back to the belay, why would I want to escape the belay and tie their weight off to the anchor when I could just start ascending the rope using my grigri and their weight as a counterweight? Once I reach them, I could back up the top piece and lower down with them, until such point that I have to build another anchor and start team rappelling.

It seems like fixing the rope at the bottom just makes it a pain in the ass to ascend and adds the extra step of needing to go all the way back down to unfix it before I start rappelling with my injured partner.

I think escape-the-belay was a given in the original post. Are you (JHC) thinking that with a gri-gri there will never be a reason to escape the belay?

Jesus H. Christ wrote:Say I'm belaying with a grigri and my partner has lead out past the halfway point so I can't just lower them back to the belay, why would I want to escape the belay and tie their weight off to the anchor when I could just start ascending the rope using my grigri and their weight as a counterweight? Once I reach them, I could back up the top piece and lower down with them, until such point that I have to build another anchor and start team rappelling. It seems like fixing the rope at the bottom just makes it a pain in the ass to ascend and adds the extra step of needing to go all the way back down to unfix it before I start rappelling with my injured partner.

counterbalance ascent is faster ... but if the top pieces are questionable you both go KAPUT if they blow

with a fixed line one can clip through pieces as one ascends on prussiks, which gives you a chance at living if the top pieces go poofy

;)

bearbreeder wrote: if the top pieces are questionable you both go KAPUT if they blow with a fixed line one can clip through pieces as one ascends on prussiks, which gives you a chance at living if the top pieces go poofy ;)

That's what I figured, but that would be one hell of a whip if the top pieces did blow, even if you did fix the line to the anchor. I guess it's still better than the alternative of being ripped off the wall entirely.

Daniel Bookless wrote:So, I'm having a lot of trouble envisioning scenarios where escaping the belaying is warranted. Let's say I'm three pitches off the ground, the leader falls, she's not responding (there is only two of us). What then, I escape the belay and then solo up to her??? I escape the belay and down solo the climb and run back to my car and get help? I'm really confused here.

It is a very rare scenario. But here is one account of that exact circumstance.
FULL ACCOUNT:
summitpost.org/account-of-o…

BRIEF ACCOUNT:
After a couple minutes, I heard the terrible scraping noise of a steep slab fall, and the rope fluttered as Ishun cried out.

Surprisingly, the rope did not come taut. In this brief moment I rationalized that she had either caught her fall or stopped on a ledge. David and I called up to see if she was OK. There was no reply. We shouted a few more times and heard nothing. Moving quickly, I pulled the rope tight, locked off the belay and backed it up. We fixed a klemheist to the rope and reinforced the anchor for upward pull, then tied off the rope to the anchor and stepped out of the belay. About half the rope was out, so we reasoned I could reach her on the other half. We also had a single twin rope (for the 3rd to climb on) and I tied this to my harness to trail up. David put me on belay and I proceeded upward on the free half of the lead rope, clipping the pieces Ishun had placed on lead. The climbing was difficult as she had said, and my heart was racing. I tried to climb quickly but deliberately. Eventually I reached the top of the gully and could see Ishun to my right.

At the top of the gully, she had exited right and climbed up and right over steep slabs about 10 feet to a tied-off knob. Much of this face was very modestly featured, and conspicuously lacking the copious chickenheads we had found on the first pitch far below. She was now resting about 20 feet to the right and slightly down from this last piece. She was oriented vertically with her back to me, and I could see a piece fixed to the rock directly above her. One arm was thrust upward and she was leaning against the wall. I continued to call out to her in as calm a voice as I could muster, trying to reassure her (and myself) that everything was going to be OK. I climbed up to clip the top piece, then down-climbed and proceeded to traverse out to her on steep and surprisingly blank friction, with a few small footholds for balance. As I got to within 10 feet of her, David called out from below that I was now out of rope; I’d misjudged the rope length and now couldn’t reach her. I inched back to the left to more secure footholds, tied into the haul line, climbed back up to the high knob and clipped it. After David put me on belay with the haul line, I untied from the lead rope and traversed back out. It’s hard to remember exactly, but by this point at least 30 minutes had passed since the fall.

When I reached Ishun I could see her gear sling was pulled tight under one shoulder and around the other side of her neck. The gear sling itself was hanging from a single cam, the trigger bar having caught and held on a small knob directly above her head. This is what had stopped her fall without loading the rope. There was a loose runner clipped to the rope, indicating she may have been trying to sling a knob when she fell. She did not appear to be breathing and I wasn’t sure if I was detecting a faint carotid pulse. There were red trauma marks on her neck and a thin white foam at her lips. I was horrified to find that I could not release the gear sling as it was holding her entire body weight; we were 20 feet out on a pendulum exposure and I could not find sufficient foot holds to apply enough leverage to pull off the sling or to lift the cam from the protrusion above. The surface features available (a few small, rounded knobs in inconvenient locations) presented only very marginal protection between our position and the last good piece. What followed was almost mechanical; somehow I was able to rig a lowering system near the previous good piece and release Ishun from her position without causing a further pendulum swing. I am wracked with doubts as to whether I made all the right decisions in administering emergency care while managing the anchoring in our precarious position; all I wanted was to get her off the rock safely and see her wake up. I tried to hold out high hopes throughout the ordeal, but deep in my heart I think I knew she was already gone.

Wow patto, that story is chilling. So the climber died? Thanks for posting. A sobering reminder of what can happen.

rgold wrote:Understand that many of the self-rescue scenarios just aren't going to work in real situations, or if they do work, it will only because the climbers have practiced continually and extensively, which in my experience very few do.

The "continually and extensively" is accurate in my experience. Some of us have been practicing self-rescue a couple times a year for about five years. At that rate, it takes a few years just to start to feel comfortable with the prescribed scenario. And doing more frequent self-rescue practice honestly seems anti-theme to the reason(s) most of us climb.

That said, many of the isolated tasks in self-rescue can / do spill over into relatively frequent non-self-rescue circumstances. Sometimes, it is helpful to have options during an otherwise normal climb.