In late June, we hosted, for the first time, an Advanced Rope Rescue course. The course focused on showing, and practicing, different rigging and concepts that could be utilized in any environment. The showing aspect of the course included a presentation on rope physics, while the practicing aspect included scenario-based rescues.
We had a mix of attendees join the course, including professional fire rescue, arborists, professional window washers and industry rope access professionals. The varied backgrounds created an ideal environment for discussing and showing different techniques. Not only did course attendees learn from us, but they also had the opportunity to learn from the other professionals. Attendees shared the different techniques that they tend to use, which prompted discussions and demonstrations.
This blending of different backgrounds for our courses seems to be becoming a trend – and one that we are excited about! Over the past few years we’ve noticed that more and more rope rescue thought leaders are going out and looking into different industries and areas of rope access and rope rescue in order to make themselves better practitioners. This is important for the industry because is creates a greater opportunity to learn, and better ourselves, which ultimately benefits the victim. Because of this trend, the Elevated Safety team has also adopted techniques, and equipment, across these professions as well (professional fire rescue, arborists, mountain rescue, rock climbing, etc.)
And, if you are curious, this is a course that we’ve wanted to run for a few years. Our preparations for GRIMP NA over the winter were the catalyst for putting the wheels in motion to turn this course into reality. We prepared extensively for GRIMP NA, but we truly wished that we would have had even more time to come up with different scenarios and test different systems. They end result, the Advanced Rope Rescue course.
Although we don’t have another Advanced Rope Rescue course scheduled yet, we will certainly host this course again….so keep an eye on our course calendar!