Self arrest on back, head first AND tied in to a team
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:29 pm
My two brothers and I are doing some practicing for climbing the south side of Mt. Hood. We couldn't find a hill steep enough for practicing self arrests so we practiced by having one guy drag the other on the ice. This ironically turned out to be interesting practice since it brought us closer to some worse case senarios. By having some weight pulling on the harness, I'd say we're simulating the entire rope team in a fall. Unless the harness is unsually low and tight or is a caving harness, the pull point is farther downhill than the ice ax pick would be if we follow the at-the-hip position. This means that starting the move to get back into feet first position is very difficult unless you get the pick darn near into your armpit and there you have little leverage. Even if you do manage to start the rotation, it is likely that rope is between you and the ax (unless you already had both hands on the ax), which means the rope catches your arm, either stoping the rotation or forces you to let go of the ax which is also problematic if you're using a leash.
Is this a realistic senario? Even if one member was in a better position, his self-arrest would then aid the righting of the other members. Are there problems with trying to roll first to the belly position (although even with this you need to make sure you get the ax under the rope first)? I have freedom of the hills, but are there texts that review arrests with a rope team?
Is this a realistic senario? Even if one member was in a better position, his self-arrest would then aid the righting of the other members. Are there problems with trying to roll first to the belly position (although even with this you need to make sure you get the ax under the rope first)? I have freedom of the hills, but are there texts that review arrests with a rope team?