Wire-strike rescues

[Gus937]

Is it ever sensible to try and rescue someone (without involving the authorities) who has wrapped themselves around an antenna guy wire?

I was climbing a 500 ft A recently and stopped at about 200 ft to look at the guy wires that attach there. I figured that if I was going to have a wire strike it would most likely be one of the 3 wires at this level. The wires go pretty steep down to the ground which got me thinking that if you hit one, you probably wouldn't be very far horizontally from the antenna itself. That got me wondering whether you could attach a rope to the antenna (above the level where the jumper is stranded), lower the other end to the jumper, have them attach to the rope - then have them cutaway the canopy. They'd swing in to the antenna but if you attached the antenna end of the rope as high as possible I don't _think_ it would be too bad. Better than the alternative anyway.

Thoughts? Experiences? Does anyone carry rope with them as a matter of course?

Gus

[Tom Aiello]

After the infamous "Gravity Girl Tower Strike" in Norcal, I started carrying rescue gear (rope, ascenders, belay devices, some slings and 'biners) in my truck whenever I go to jump. So far, I've not had to use them. I do have some friends who wished they'd had that stuff, though, as they rescued a jumper stranded on a wire by improvising various things (like tying 3 bridles together to lower down to him.

[Biff]

Hi Gus

I've been checking out this (UK) course which could come in useful :

http://www.narc.co.uk/coursedetail/TRE3U.html

It is only one day so could be done on a weekend before the weather improves. This might also be a good time to do the trauma first aid course we were discussing late last year.

Will

[sabre210]

I always have climbing rope and slings in the car. Not necessarily at the object though, plus carabiners. Not what you'd call a full rescue kit but better than tying bedsheets together. In addition i have a box of splints for legs, ankles, wrists, arms. I always keep a full leg inflatable splint in the stash bag pocket in my rig just in case.

Hope it never comes to that.

ian

[Colm]

They'd swing in to the antenna but if you attached the antenna end of the rope as high as possible I don't _think_ it would be too bad. Better than the alternative anyway.

Thoughts? Experiences? Does anyone carry rope with them as a matter of course?

Gus

Maybe if you could pass an end of the rope to the stranded person, he could tie his end off to the wire, or to the lines of his entangled parachute, and then the other end could be pulled tight and tied to the structure at the same elevation, creating a (nearly) horizontal line. The person could clip onto the rope with a carabiner and a backup prussik (in case one of the anchors failed), then cutaway, and then slide across... and if I had the luxury of another rope, I'd also do what you initially said, attach him to another line anchored from high above.

Because it would sure suck to pendulum into the structure if the canopy came untangled, which was anchoring one end of the rope.

So how do you remove the evidence now? maybe you could attach a person to the wire, and belay him down the wire until he got to the canopy, where it could be removed. Then he uses ascenders to go back up? Thats a lot of rope to haul up there.

Ugh, it's getting rather complicated!


Dang, if he's two hundred feet up, and you can pass them a rope, why not just pass them a new parachute

[John Hayes]

About 4 months ago I was called on my cell by a couple of guys in my area that had gone out to the local tower. They took a guy for his first jump. He had an off heading and hung on the last wire. He was about 150 to 200 feet off the ground about half way down the wire. They told me that they had called 911 and told them what had happened.
My wife and I drove out to the tower and saw rescue personnel everywhere. They had these big lights on the ground shinning up to my friend. It was scary to look at him just hanging there.
I approached the fire captain and asked how they were going to get him down and he said that he had no clue.
So I came up with the Idea of connecting a carabineer to a rope and clip it around the wire. Leave about 10 feet hanging down with another carabineer on it for him to hook on his chest strap. Once he cut away if the canopy, if it came loose they could just lower the rope (sliding on the carabineer) down the wire to the ground. But when he cutaway the canopy would not budge, it had melted around the wire from friction. So the fire department pulled him back to the tower then he climbed down.

[matt]

About 4 months ago I was called on my cell by a couple of guys in my area that had gone out to the local tower. They took a guy for his first jump. He had an off heading and hung on the last wire. He was about 150 to 200 feet off the ground about half way down the wire. They told me that they had called 911 and told them what had happened.
My wife and I drove out to the tower and saw rescue personnel everywhere. They had these big lights on the ground shinning up to my friend. It was scary to look at him just hanging there.
I approached the fire captain and asked how they were going to get him down and he said that he had no clue.
So I came up with the Idea of connecting a carabineer to a rope and clip it around the wire. Leave about 10 feet hanging down with another carabineer on it for him to hook on his chest strap. Once he cut away if the canopy, if it came loose they could just lower the rope (sliding on the carabineer) down the wire to the ground. But when he cutaway the canopy would not budge, it had melted around the wire from friction. So the fire department pulled him back to the tower then he climbed down.

I would say at the very least get some basic climbing instruction. Even if the only climber you know is an arborist. That would at least get you into the mindset of working with ropes and the other equipment included in a few different rescues. I learned a lot working with a tree guy about climbing and applying leverage to the right spots to get a few hundred pounds of dead weight to go where it needed to go. I have also gone to a few climbing lessons that taught some good stuff.

Get to know the knots and what their purposes are i.e. don’t put a square knot at the end of a line and know how to add locking knots to everything.

Attaching ropes to a harness isn’t a bad idea since a harness can take the abuse. The harness does it with three attachment points though. If everyone was briefed on bowline on a coil, which is a very easy knot to learn and can be done under duress if needed, you would increase the security of the jumper exponentially.

Using a snatch block would bring down the amount of energy needed to manage a jumper on a wire and a must if you have to pull a jumper back to the guy attachment point. Just a snatch block, a whole lot of rope, some good steel snap links like Tom said, and some basic instruction would go a long way in rescuing a stranded jumper. Also these things aren’t very heavy if you have a couple jumpers to go back up an antenna with the gear. Also you have to factor in the possibility of an unconscious jumper and having to go to him/her. If you don’t know you’re busted but with a few basic lessons it would be no big deal. Thankfully I have not had to do this but I have used what I know to get people in and out of different places. It wasn’t fun but it kept the person as safe as possible.

[Tom Aiello]

Also you have to factor in the possibility of an unconscious jumper and having to go to him/her.

To get down the guy wire, here's a technique I used once:

Anchor the line to the tower. Tie off to the end of it (short of the ground) so that if you end up falling you just ride the line, instead of cratering. Clip yourself into the guy wire using a short runner attached to a steel 'biner. Rappel down the line (sliding down the wire) until you get where you are going. Use ascenders to climb back up the line (sliding yourself back up the wire) once you're done. Alternately, you could just rap (and slide down the guy wire) all the way to the ground.

If you're trying to rescue an injured jumper, you could run a Z-rig inside the tower, so that a second rescuer could haul the two of you back up to the tower.

If you haven't seen it, a good reference is How to Rock Climb: Big Walls, which has a lot of good information on how to rig hauls and rappels (climbers use those techniques to get a whole bunch of gear up the side of multi-day climbs).

[matt]

Well, there you go. Hopefully I won't have to do this.

To get down the guy wire, here's a technique I used once:

Anchor the line to the tower. Tie off to the end of it (short of the ground) so that if you end up falling you just ride the line, instead of cratering. Clip yourself into the guy wire using a short runner attached to a steel 'biner. Rappel down the line (sliding down the wire) until you get where you are going. Use ascenders to climb back up the line (sliding yourself back up the wire) once you're done. Alternately, you could just rap (and slide down the guy wire) all the way to the ground.

If you're trying to rescue an injured jumper, you could run a Z-rig inside the tower, so that a second rescuer could haul the two of you back up to the tower.

If you haven't seen it, a good reference is How to Rock Climb: Big Walls, which has a lot of good information on how to rig hauls and rappels (climbers use those techniques to get a whole bunch of gear up the side of multi-day climbs).

[Tom Aiello]

Because it would sure suck to pendulum into the structure if the canopy came untangled, which was anchoring one end of the rope.

You can "pass" the rope by clipping a rescue 'biner (large and steel, or it might snag and/or wear through) to the guy wire the jumper is stranded on. That makes it way easier to get the rope down to him (you just slide the 'biner down, with the rope tied to it), and fixes most of the pendulum issues you mention.

As an aside, if you have enough rope, it's better to lower the jumper to the ground (either straight, or sliding down the wire) rather than pulling them back up (because if they're injured, you're now stuck trying to get an injured jumper down the tower--plus it sucks to haul when you can just lower).

[Colm]

As an aside, if you have enough rope, it's better to lower the jumper to the ground (either straight, or sliding down the wire) rather than pulling them back up (because if they're injured, you're now stuck trying to get an injured jumper down the tower--plus it sucks to haul when you can just lower).

That's a good point, and I also liked John Hayes' story. I might only have one, or maybe two, 60m lengths of dynamic rope, until I called in some help with more line, preferably static of course. (Hm so perhaps it's time for a new investment)

I haven't done the math.. but it looks like, if rope is in limited supply, at a certain point down the wire, it's shorter to rappel down than slide back across, and above that it's shorter to go across to the tower -- injury permitting. Maybe I'm just making it too complicated.

That makes me wonder, what angles are guy wires attached at?

Now lets make this harder... now the guy is stuck on the wire of a 1500' A, and also higher above the ground. I guess at some point you might as well just call 911, but maybe there's another way out? (and it's 1AM and you can't go buy more rope yet) I've got some ideas but wonder what other folks think.

[Tom Aiello]

That makes me wonder, what angles are guy wires attached at?

It depends on the wire. Each wire set is going to contain a variety of angles, because the wires anchor at the same point on the ground and different points on the tower. And each anchor (on the ground) is going to generate a different set of angles as well.

Now lets make this harder... now the guy is stuck on the wire of a 1500' A, and also higher above the ground. I guess at some point you might as well just call 911, but maybe there's another way out? (and it's 1AM and you can't go buy more rope yet) I've got some ideas but wonder what other folks think.

In theory, the correct cable devices ought to allow you to climb or lower up/down the cable itself. But I don't own one that's large enough for a guy line, and I don't know how much they'd cost.

I think I'd prefer calling 911 to trying to rig up a contraption that might fail (like, say, trying to use slings to make big prussiks, or something). Better busted than dead.

[mtnlion667]

I started carrying a 60' length of retired climbing rope and my ATC after i had to use jumper cables to assist my mentor after he was hanging below the branches but between the trunks of 3 trees. haven't had to use the rope or anything else since then...............