Rope
Technical Rope Rescue - Technician
This technician-level technical rope rescue course is the “Gold Standard” for rope rescue training. It is an intense and demanding course, but we utilize simple, logical steps with lots of hands-on experience to facilitate learning. Students advance from basic over-the-bank rescues to progressively more vertical scenarios. Course includes pre-planning and size-up of rope rescue operations; knots, hitches and anchor systems; belay operations; ascending and descending; raising and lowering systems; and patient packaging and litter attending, among other skills and techniques.
There is wide range of applications for the skill and knowledge covered in this course, including bridge, railway, pipeline and dam construction and inspections; moving heavy objects; and confined space rescue. The requirements for the Rope Rescue Technician portion of NFPA 1670 Standard for technical rope rescue are met in this course.
Details
Duration: 5 days (40 hours)
Format: 1 day classroom, 4 days at outdoor climbing sites
Cost: $975
Pre-requisites
Required Equipment
- Class III full-body harness (or separate chest and sit harnesses)*
- Climbing helmet*
- Sturdy boots (hiking boots are fine)
- Pants made of durable material
- Gloves with leather palms (work gloves are fine)
(*rentals available - helmets are free, harnesses are $25/day, required for 4 days)
FAQ
More details about technical rope courses including what to expect and how to prepare. Click here for our Technical Rope Rescue FAQ.
Course Outline
This is a generalized course outline. Individual instructors may change the order in which the outline subjects are covered. All topics will be covered at some time during the class.
Day One
- Registration, rescue instruction philosophy and absolutes
- NFPA Standards
- Rescuer safety
- Rope scenarios and systems applications
- Equipment: current, specialized, new and experimental
- Structure problems
- Helicopters in the rope environment
- Pre-incident planning
- Size-up
- General hazards
- Incident command system
- On-scene safety briefing & site control
- Intro to ropes, knots and technical gear
- Ropes, knots, bends, hitches and load release hitches
- Intro to rope systems and anchors
Day Two
- Low angle scenarios: scene assessment, anchoring
- Mechanical advantage systems
- Tied harnesses
- Anchorage
- Verbal commands
- Placing rope protection
- System safety checks
- Belay systems & operations
- Tensioning systems & mechanical advantage
- Low angle scenarios: raising and lowering systems
- Attending a litter (low angle)
- Tripods and “A” frames
- Moderate to steep angle scenarios
Day Three
- Rappelling and ascending
- Vertical raising and lowering systems
- Vertical raising and lowering systems with attendant in high angle system
Day Four
- Passing a knot through a lowering and raising system
- Introduction to highline systems
- Ascending & descending (high angle)
- Patient packaging and litter management
- Pick-off while suspended in high angle environment
Day Five
- Set up high angle scenario using newly acquired skills
- Rope rescue - special problems
- General review, written test, question & answer session
- Certificates issued
Take Aways
- Rescue 3’s Technical Rope Rescue - Technician Level Manual
- Personalized skill sheet (training record) signed by the instructor (valuable document for risk management)
- Registration of training record in Rescue 3’s international database
- Wallet card with personal Rescue 3 registration number and date of certification
- Certificate of Completion
