SummitPost.org

The recommended tie off method (in Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills 7th ed; see pg 185-186 ) is to use a prusik attached to an anchor to unweight the rope to the belayer and then tie off the rope to the anchor using a figure 8 or something similar.

There are actually whole books and courses written about this topic -- it's called Self-Rescue. If you already understand glacier travel, crevasse rescue and how to set up z-pulley systems, then at least some of the material shouldn't be too much of a surprise. I like this book. We should all probably spend more time practicing these kinds of things -- escaping the belay, tying someone off, ascending a stuck rope, etc. and at least think about what would need to be done in some of the more arcane situations.

rhyang wrote:I like this book. We should all probably spend more time practicing these kinds of things -- escaping the belay, tying someone off, ascending a stuck rope, etc. and at least think about what would need to be done in some of the more arcane situations.

Ditto on the book. You can simulate a rescue scenario and practice using some deadweight, rope, carabiners, pulleys, etc. Hopefully you'll never need it, but better to have tried it in the backyard than practicing on a real (fallen) leader. Your climbing partner will (should) thank you.

rhyang wrote:There are actually whole books and courses written about this topic -- it's called Self-Rescue. If you already understand glacier travel, crevasse rescue and how to set up z-pulley systems, then at least some of the material shouldn't be too much of a surprise. I like this book. We should all probably spend more time practicing these kinds of things -- escaping the belay, tying someone off, ascending a stuck rope, etc. and at least think about what would need to be done in some of the more arcane situations.

I also backup that recommended self rescue book!

In one of my climbing instructor courses we did a demonstration of rescuing an injured climber from a stuck rope aprroximately 20 feet off the deck, i.e. lowering is not an option. The situation was a toprope. Due to the rules of the organization, a new belay had to be setup, the rescuer lowered, the injured climber tied off to the rescuer, injured climber "released" from their belay and finally lower rescuer and injured climber to ground. All told the minimum time I've seen this demo done in is 45 minutes and this was with guys who've practiced this demo multiple times.

Practice makes better (not perfect) so do it.