At Fox Mountain Guides, we do a lot of continuing education and training for our guides to stay on top of what is out there in the climbing world. Technical rescue is something we hopefully never have to use but need to be very proficient with……. just in case. I do find myself employing these techniques when guiding to make my clients’ experience better as well as during high angle operations with the Brevard Rescue team. Nonetheless, revisiting these systems is always good and discussing with peers ways to do things better seems to keep us at the forefront of our industry.
We use the AMGA “45 minute drill” as our scenario. This scenario is a technical challenge that guides must complete to pass their AMGA Rock Instructor and AMGA Rock Guide exams. They don’t really reflect actual situations one might encounter, and they are not inteded to. The drill is designed to be complex, stressful, and contrived to evaluate how a guide might deal with an even more stressful emergency. It consists of escaping belays, raising and lowering systems, rappelling and counter balancing descending techniques, as well as improvised ascending and load-releasable weight transfers. This scenario brings out various solutions to many different problems, which allows for great discussion among scholarly guides.
