Rapelling or Climbing

[FiReDiVeR]

Is anyone into rapelling or climbing. I plan on getting into it soon and was wondering if anyone knew of places around here that have classes or climbing walls to practice on. I would like to take some classes and get up to a rope rescue certification. Any help would be appriciated.

[gimpface]

I love rappelling, but I haven't done it for about four years or so... been meaning to get some gear and rope and do a little urban mountaineering. There's some buildings and billboards I have plans for...

I think you can take classes at Petra in Springfield. Probably just regular climbing and rappelling stuff though, not tech rescue.

I've been trying to convince my boss that it would be a good idea to send me to rope rescue training, but I don't think she's going to go for it. Something about my job being EMS and not rescue, etc. etc.

[whipping_post]

What about if you need to do EMS in a spot that can only be reached by rapelling and there's no SAR folks around? I would think that those skills would make you more valuable. Having more than one skillset is good, especially in the EMS field.

[colt45]

I climb and rappell a little bit, I wish I had time to do it more. The only place I know of to get a certification is petra but i dont know about rescue.

[Sertile]

I do a lot of climbing on my own, mostly just freestyle or rope climbing (sans harness - too expensive) and very little rappelling, but I've taken classes at Petra and I can tell you it's a pretty good place to climb, if you're into walls and whatnot, and the only place in Springfield besides. They have several walls there, about 40 ft high, along with some shorter ones and some bouldering walls.

They're located at 916 N. Cedarbrook, Suite C, and are open Mon-Thurs 2-10pm, Fri pm-1am, Sat 10am-1am, and Sun 12-6pm. The phone #'s (417) 866-3308.

[gimpface]

What about if you need to do EMS in a spot that can only be reached by rapelling and there's no SAR folks around? I would think that those skills would make you more valuable. Having more than one skillset is good, especially in the EMS field.

Well, the rule of thumb is that the safety of myself and my partner far outweigh the welfare of the patient if they're in a dangerous situation. So basically, if you get hurt in a place that will require specialized rescue (like oh, say, damn near any cave or worthwhile UE location) you're pretty much fucked. We'll do our best, but we generally don't have the right equipment, even if we do have the skills, to do a rescue. We'll more likely try to assess the patient from a distance, call for rescue and have an LZ set up for a chopper.

Sertile: Who needs a harness? If you have about nine feet of decent rope or webbing you can spare, why not tie a swiss seat? They're uncomfortable as hell, but they'll do the job.

http://home.arcor.de/varn/

If you follow that link and click on "On Rappel" it has instructions for a swiss seat.

[whipping_post]

But waiting for a chopper to warm up and get somebody there could cost a patient their life. While the EMS workers life could be in danger, the life of the patient should be paramount; that's why you're there to begin with. I have NOTHING but the utmost respect for those that put their lives on the line to save others, it only makes sense to ensure that they are properly trained in all manner of lifesaving skills, including rapelling.

Maybe they're afraid of losing a good EMS worker?

[gimpface]

Yeah, that's what they're afraid of. I'm not saying I agree, but those are the rules. If one medic gets injured, the situation becomes a total clusterfuck... not only do you now have two casualties, you have exactly one quarter of the minimum number of medics you now require. In essence, if I get hurt I cease to be part of the solution and become just another GF factor.

Besides, it's like I said before: even with the training, we seldom have the right equipment. For a high or low angle rescue, you'll need all sorts of rope, pulleys, anchors, belay devices, and at least one stokes basket (not to mention the extra people you need.. two guys alone can't do it) . There's just not enough room on the typical ambulance for that kind of gear (they're pretty much packed full of stuff as it is).

They really stress scene safety nowadays, due to the fact that medics and EMTs have an extremely high turnover rate due to casualties, burnout, and the fact that we're all pretty much insane to begin with.

[whipping_post]

Not to mention the alcohol that gets ingested, which helps you deal with some of the more stupid of the human race.

But I see both points of view but at the same time, I don't see why learning more would be a bad thing. Even if it's "against the rules".

[FiReDiVeR]

Thanks sertile for the information. I called PETRA and they offer 3 classes the first is a beginner course that takes 1-2 hrs. for $16.00. An advanced class that must have 5 people to do and I don't know cost. They also are starting a rope rescue class that has 3 sessions on different days. The whole rescue class costs $30.00

[gimpface]

The answer is money... but now that I see how cheap classes at petra are, I may have to take matters into my own hands...

[whipping_post]

I would. I'm looking into something similar here local just because I want to learn to do it correctly. I've done it the old way with no gear other than a rope and that was painful after a while.

You'll have to let us know how you do and what you decide.

[FiReDiVeR]

I found Petra's website its a little outdated but has some basic information.

www.petrarockgym.com

[dawgchain]

Clay is always trying to add more stuff to thier list of classes, both official classes and un-oficial classes. I miss going out with tose guys..... no time and no contact sucks.

[White Rabbit]

You know, I can climb like a freaking chimpanzee, but I've never bothered to get into like any official rapelling stuff. I know I'd be awesome at it, but I'm sort of intimidated by the fact that I don't know anything about it. I hate going into a place, like Petra, when you have exactly zero knowledge about how any of it operates.