Past Activity

Rappelling Skills – Larison Rock

Start date: 06/05/2011
Start time: 12:00 AM
End date: 06/05/2011
End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

This is a field session to practice rappelling techniques at Larison Rock, which has an overhanging section of rock so people can get the experience of a 'free' rappel. The hike to the top of Larison Rock is about 1/2 mile. We will set up a couple of rappel lines and give people a chance to do several free rappels, both single rope and double rope. We will also work through some scenarios that one might encounter in alpine climbing - such as how to assist an injured person who can not rappel on their own, how to set up an autoblock knot to provide a self-belay while rappelling, and what to do if you have to rappel past a knot (for instance, if part of a rope becomes abraded and needs to be tied off). Participants should have some previous experience with rappelling, at least the equivalent of Basic Climb School.

Event Leader: Sue Sullivan
Event Leader Phone: 541-342-6546
Event Leader Email: suesulliwat@gmail.com
Assistant Leader:
Event category: Climbs
Area Type:
Departure Location: South Eugene High School, 19th & Patterson
Rating: Moderate
Roundtrip total drive miles: 100
Season: 2011
Permits Required:
Event Status: Passed
Supplies and Equipment Required: Participants should provide their own harness, belay/rappel device, helmet, and have at least two prusik cords. Please contact me if you have any questions (suesulliwat@gmail.com)
participant prerequisites:
Conditions:
Total Distance: 1
Member Fees: 20
Elevation Gain: 300
Non-Member Fees: —
Committee: Climbs
Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

Nine of us drove to the upper trailhead for Larison Rock on a cool June Sunday morning. We hiked the half mile to the top of Larison Rock and set up three ropes for practicing some more advanced rappel techniques. We started with a discussion of how to properly set up for rappelling with one or two ropes, and several practical hints to improve safety and reduce the likelihood of rope tangles when throwing the rope over a cliff.

Then the fun started. We practiced the use of autoblock knots for self-belay while rappelling. This is particularly useful if the rappeller needs to use his/her hands for freeing the rope or if one wants to take pictures while rappelling. We tried the autoblock with a conventional rappel device on both double rope and single rope rappels, and on a double alpine rope (8.8mm). People were convinced by the end of the day that this greatly improves the safety of rappelling and is very little trouble to set up.

We also worked through some 'what if' scenarios. What if you dropped your rappel device? What could you do to get down safely? We practiced the carabiner brake rappel and Munter hitch rappel and proved to ourselves that we could get ourselves down safely. John also demonstrated the Dulfersitz technique, which doesn't even require a harness.... though we agreed that this would be our last choice in most situations.

Another 'what if' scenario... what if your rope became damaged and you had to tie off part of it - how would you rappel past the knot? We did a dry run practice of how to do this, and just two participants decided to try this for real while rappelling off the overhanging section of Larison Rock. The rest of us offered coaching and some heckling from below.

There were other rappel problems we talked through, but didn't have a chance to practice. What if your rope got stuck when you were trying to pull it? How would you get it free? Is it possible to safely climb back to free it?

Finally, we did a demonstration of how to do a 2-person rappel if it became necessary to assist an injured climber.

It turned out to be a really fun and interesting day.