For KISAR’s May training we headed into Fort Abercrombie State Park and constructed a dual capability two-tensioned rope system to perform a ‘pick off’ rescue of a subject in complicated high angle terrain. The group explored building anchors using the trees at the top of the cliff, assembled a twin rope lowering system with one rope passing through a high redirect near the cliff top to assist with the edge transition, and then lowered a rescuer to where the subject was located at the base of the cliff. The rescuer then placed the subject in a harness and the team at the top converted the rope systems to a raise configuration and brought the rescuer and subject back up the cliff. We performed 3 repetitions of the exercise to allow KISAR members to experience multiple tasks in the scenario such as directing the overall operation, acting as rescuer, subject, edge attendant, prusik minder, or brake operator, etc.

The dual capability two-tensioned rope system was constructed based on the rigging manual Philip put together for KISAR which is available as a printable pdf booklet or as individual images.