Level 4: Swiftwater Rescue

Article Index

Page 4 of 8

Knots	Mechanical Advantage
Components of a good knot	Key for advanced unpinning techniques and rope rescues
Recognizable form, strong, easy to tie and untie, minimal rope use, minimal loss of rope strength, common use	Places team at higher risk, takes time, and is complex
Terminology	Safety rules
Standing and running ends, bights, loops	Use dampers when possible
Key actions	Use brakes when possible
Set, dressed, backed up	Stay out of the line of fire
Figure eight family	Pull with your back towards likely failure point, wearing PFD and helmet
Strong, easily tied and recognized, fundamental rescue knots	Consider directional changes
Figure 8, figure 8 on a bight, figure 8 followthrough (as both a loop and a bend)	10 boy scouts
Additional important knots	Vector pull standard method and progressive vector
“no-knot” (friction hitch), butterfly knot, clove hitch, two half hitches, water knot (for webbing), double fisherman’s bend, prusik	Good for MA, bad for anchors
Many other knots available; these form the foundation of river rescue	3:1 (Z-drag)
Knot mastery comes from practice; plan on tying knots with cold hands, under water
Anchors
Foundation for many advanced skills
Places team at higher risk; consider what happens if the anchor fails
Good anchors
Are close to the load, and in line with it (anchor-belayerclimber concept)
Are close to the load, and in line with it (anchor-belayerclimber concept)
Can be attached to a haul line
General concepts
Stay low to the ground
Pad or, better yet, avoid friction points
Consider what happens if the anchor fails
Internal angles ideally less than 90 degrees
Hard on soft, soft on hard
One point anchors
“no-knot”
Simple loop
3 bight (internal angles should be less than 90 degrees to reduce risk of triloading carabiner)
Two point anchors
Use with marginal anchors, when a live load is attached, and just on general principles
Load distribution and selfequalizing loop
Expect the load to move
Other resources

Level 4: Swiftwater Rescue

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