Highline rescue practice at the ISA meeting in Bern Switzerland

Want to watch me get rescued? Check it out on this episode of How Not To Highline. Hi, I'm Ryan Jinks and welcome to my gear room. I recently was in Switzerland at the ISA meetings, the International Slackline Association, where we talked about rescues and did some demonstrations inside the building and at the park. So check out this episode about the different techniques that we discussed there as they were things that I haven't seen yet. This year I kind of secretly want to, well not very secretly, want to have a line that's just for rescue practice. So throughout the whole festival everyone can practice. I think that would be really cool. So I think the keys for me for rescue is, number one, is the safety of the rescuer. So we were practicing different scenarios. So worst possible case mainline failure, we'll put a backup line on. But even then you want to minimize the amount of time the rescuer is out there. Having to rescue two people is just worst case scenario I think. So definitely keeping the safety of the rescuer. And one of the key points I think for that is the speed, which also helps the person getting rescued. Even in a practice scenario we found that rescuers would panic a little bit. They would forget things. They'd forget equipment. Sometimes they'd have to roll back and get more stuff and come back in again. So you can imagine in a real life situation that would be very tricky. So yeah, and I guess also the, I guess not a safety requirement, but another requirement is minimal amount of gear because how realistic is people going to have, you know, a four-to-one police system or something to rescue on a weekend. And then, so you'll see soon that this method utilizes people at the anchor to help, which I think is a good solution because people at the anchor are generally calmer. They can communicate with each other. We found it was often difficult to communicate with the rescuer depending on your location. And they're also just standing around wanting to help and they kind of feel helpless and they kind of add stress to the rescuer, you know, constantly asking them questions and whatever. So, and usually we highline with a talk about it. So the equipment you do need is some sort of a roller. If you don't have the past, you know, crazy twists and knots and stuff, you can just use a regular roller like a hangover. But since we have this, we may as well use it. For a festival, you know, you probably only need to have one. And the other key piece of equipment you need is some sort of micro traction sort of device. This is just an Edward version of a micro traction. So, and then another nice thing is a break at the anchor. You don't have to have one, but it's nice. I guess this is a little bit biased for the GGBY festival, that we had hang frames. And so this was kind of designed to rescue the person, you know, all the way onto the cliff edge, over the cliff edge at GGBY. And this helps with that because we actually lower them at the very end. So let's install this guy. So you do need a rescue rope as well, but I'd assume most rescues you would. Compensating something? Uh, yes. I love carrying it. So we're rescuing from this anchor. A little bit later, I'll have a few people help on this side. So I will do this safely. All right. So I have all the equipment I need now and I'm on the line. Um, so I'll go out. So one of the, one of the things about this technique is the rescuer escapes on the other side. So I'm going to safety in there and then I'm going to end up switching, um, the rescuer onto the roller. All right. Probably don't do that. Um, so I clip him on. Um, potentially, I mean this, I think with a locking carabiner is, um, is probably safe enough. Um, you know, it's just, are you going to have two persons or not? You can definitely. I, I guess one, one other thing I forgot, um, that you do need is some sort of device that'll grab the webbing. We were using Prosix and it seemed to work fine. You'll see why soon. So you want to block the roller from rolling in that direction. Yeah. And so can we get a I mean with like three people, you should be able to not multiply if you didn't have tables in the way. Yeah. But like when you're on the edge of a cliff, you don't always have even if you have a hang frame, you don't always pull sideways. So basically you're a lazy rescuer and he doesn't do any of the work. Yes. That is, that is the goal. That is the best way. It's what we figured out. So as you can see, he goes up first. So you guys keep pulling and then a little bit more, a little bit more. Um, so depending on your system, how much height you get, um, is there. And then let's see. Yeah, you guys release a little bit and then you take, yeah. And then guys can just start hauling them out. We haven't yet. Um, but you know, probably needs a bit more testing. And then, so the rescue we found was easier if they escaped the other end. So it didn't create more sag for him to get over the cliff edge. So I would leave over here. Yeah, I guess so. Otherwise they can wait potentially. We found getting over the cliff edge was a lot harder potentially with two people. He would just be a lot lower. Um, so it depends on the scenario and, and it can take a little while for him to get hauled out. So our rescuers would be off before he got all the way in. Yeah. So just minimizing the amount of time the rescuers on, on the line. Yeah. Works this way. If you have something that goes over twists and stuff, otherwise the first, the rescue hasn't died. Works with hangovers. You just have to take care of twists. Um, so now, so if you need to get down, that's why we, we use a break. And so we can, um, lower you a little bit. Uh, well here, if there's enough people, we can kind of just hold them. And then if you want to release, yeah, it depends on where your anchors are. On this as well, pulling into a tooth device almost to the top makes it really difficult to undo. So, and like, I can see logic to actually having the switch around. So you have the max advantage pulling him in and it's only the little bit of lifting. And then when you get him here, you can switch it over and you've got straight lower. I can see more efficiency out of it. So you would set this up before you go out because you don't want to be spending a lot of time out there. So I'm doing a Prusik here to act as the microtraction. Well, as a break. Nope. Nope. Yeah. Nope. That's why maybe the... No, no, no. Cause I need two things. So I was going to use a wafer for the webbing and the Prusik for the rope, but I might use the wafer instead. Oh yeah. I could just hold it while they pull up and then it doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. But I need to, okay. So harness on here. And so I was thinking if you don't have a Grigri or something, you could use a, maybe a monther hitch on the edge with a carabiner. So I'm going to try doing that. No, I'm going to use a dynamic knot. So I said that, she asked me if I'm not using a Grigri and saying that I'm trying to use like the least amount of gear that I, but I need another carabiner and another anchor here. If anybody has something, I guess I can use the end of this. No, a better carabiner. So I'm going to do a monther hitch or I don't know if that's what it's called, but it's called dynamic knot in Spanish. Just gives you a little bit of friction to pull the person back. And so you get on the line, clip your hangover or rolling device. If the person's unconscious, the first thing you would need is a chest harness, but I'm going to pretend like he's conscious. So we don't, I don't need that right now, but if he was, the first thing is to get the chest harness and clip it to here. Uh, and then, Oh, I forgot another carabiner. So my friends tossed me a carabiner from the cliff. I caught it. Huh? Um, no, you could also use a belay loop. It's probably less crowded. And at this point I get my friends to help me pull. Oh wait, no, no, no. I need to get around first. Yeah. Oh, it's not well set. So the line's a little bit twisted. Yeah. So you put the break and yeah. So now you guys can pull. So the person isn't going to go any further down right now because of the knot. But if we were in a high line, that would probably be good enough. But if this were shorter, it would be better. Um, but then you guys release a little bit of tension. So I take this off and they can, you can pull and you can accompany the person and make sure the hangover rolls nicely, I guess. But yeah, I think the Prusik should have been shorter. So he would be higher up. Yeah. I could have attached it up there and that would have made it higher or just a shorter Prusik. But I think it works. Yeah. Yeah. If you accompany him. Yeah. And then you can lower him down if you have a hang frame and yeah. Calculate how much beer we need. So we exactly know. Yeah, this is two hangovers, two Prusiks, one gripping device and two carabiners. That's not a lot. Okay guys, we're going to do the two presentations now. And then afterwards some people can practice rescues outside if they want. Yeah. And some I'm going to practice rescuing someone by lowering them to the ground attached to me. So I'm going to lower myself and the victim to the ground. What are you attached to right now? I'm attached to a rope that's attached to a carabiner that's put around our highline. Okay. And you're attached right there. And I'm attached via a belay device, so I'm locked on and safe. Okay. And you don't slide out there on that, right? And you need help, right? I need help so bad. You technically don't need that, right? The personal anchor? Oh, it goes to her. Off of the highline leash that my victim is hanging on because otherwise I can't rescue her. Now, this is quite likely. So I'm going to try and get my, I'm going to take my shoes off so I don't hurt you at all. Can't get you're too low for me to get my feet around. So I'm just going to try hauling, see if I can actually do it. Okay. Is that enough? No, no, you made a mistake. Right. What have I done? You're still in the hangover and you're not going to get up. Yeah, that's true. So you got to take, you got to take the whole hangover off first. So just start, start everything again. It's not going to work. Just going to hurt your fingers. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go again. Okay. Is that the greatest part about videos? You can edit. You really have to get the, I'm clipped in. You can even shorten this if you want to. So clipped in on my safety, come out. I then need to come off the hangover because otherwise I'm going to be stuck on it. I'm going to get rid of that. Something else in the way. I'm all right there. I'm good. Now I get the weight off the victim. That makes a lot more sense on how to get that to them. If this is too short. Yeah. So now I can use my feet because I can lower myself down. What do you mean use your feet? I'm going to use my feet and my arms to try and lift her at the same time. Oh, I see. You're giving her a back massage. Usually pay for this or untie it. Depends how much of a hurry you're in. Thank you very much. Thank you. And what do you recommend to cut with that? You definitely cut the rope in there. Just like chill with a not a big harpoon knife right next to the highline. Really good method. I like that. If you're going to lower off. But you're assuming the assumptions are this rope goes to the ground and that you have it just dangling. It's touching the ground the whole time you slide out. You can also bring it and then throw it. If there's no one else that can go to the ground very quickly. So that the rescuer is also with the person the entire time that you're waiting for a helicopter or a mountain rescue. Yeah, because if you get down there and have no plan, what did you accomplish? So the priority is to make sure the rescuer doesn't need rescuing and that he or she is properly equipped when they go out there. If you are in too much of a rush, you could cause more problems. If you're not in a rush enough, you could cause some problems. However, things that they shared in this meeting is you can slide out there and have a team at the anchor pull them in by putting a pulley at the top, clamping it and pulling them up. Another option is to lift them up onto your system and slide them back. And another option is to basically slide out there on a repel system. You're already on your Gregory, get to them, clip them into you. There's a variety of methods that we did for this. More or less cut the leash. Don't use a knife. You don't want knives out there. You can use paracord, but if you do get the weight off of the leash, you could just untie it. Depends how much of a hurry you're in. Chest harnesses are still kind of difficult to really uncomfortable. So I think we should keep testing chest harnesses. However, if you go highlining next time, then practice rescues, film it, and we'll make an episode about it. We encourage everyone to practice rescues when they're not stressed out. And so they can get good at it for when they need to. So we're going to start doing this more at festivals. It will be at GGBY this year, where we practice rescuing people on a specific line that we'll dedicate for part of the day. I think it's a great thing that we practice every chance we get. You're not always guaranteed to be rescued if you did get hurt. Therefore, you shouldn't highline. Hey, thanks for watching, but don't be an idiot and try to go highlining your first time without going with somebody who knows what they're doing. 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