BLACK FLAGS II

Who would purposely walk into a crevasse?  I know about ten people that did.

We roped up into groups of three and took turns being the front, middle, and back person.  Each position along the rope has different responsibilities when a fall first occurs.  The front person's job is, obviously, to fall into a hole.  In reality you don't usually just fall in to a crevasse.  You normally slide into a hole the size of you and your equipment as you would sink into a pool of quicksand.

The middle person must react quickly to try and pull the front person back to prevent them from falling, or keep them from falling very far as best they can.  That was what Bruce Long was doing in the picture below.  The ice axe gets planted into the snow as you drop down and plant your feet, and a small rope that is attached to the main rope, called a prussik, is placed around the ice axe using it as an anchor.  Once the first anchor is in place additional ones are set and recovery can begin, or you can break for lunch if you don't get along all that well with the person left hanging in the crevasse.

The back person's job is to plant themselves in the snow and help by pulling on the main rope while the middle person gets the first anchors set up.

You wouldn't normally run to the edge of the crevasse to see how the first person is doing without being attached to something in a real situation, but we seemed to be a curious lot.

Once everything is stable various pulley systems can be made from the equipment in a crevasse rescue bag (don't leave home without one) to give the remaining two people enough leverage to haul the first person back to the edge of the crevasse.

As Ash pulls on the rope we begin to see Andy Smith's head pop up.

The view just kept getting better and better.

DIRECT LINKS TO PAGES:
THIS IS SUMMER?
NICE ZEALAND
McMURDO, ANTARCTICA
GETTING AROUND
HAPPY CAMPER SCHOOL
JUST PRACTICING I
JUST PRACTICING II
JUST PRACTICING III
SCOTT
SHACKLETON
BLACK FLAGS I
BLACK FLAGS II
BLACK FLAGS III
THE KIWIS ARE COMING!
THE SUNDAY BOONDOGGLE
WEATHER
AND AWAY WE GO!
THIS IS IT??
AN EXTRAVAGANZA OF SCIENCE
WHERE WERE WE?
LINE SHOOTING 101
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
FOOD
OTHER CAMP STUFF
GPS CONFLUENCE GEOCACHING PHOTOGRAPHY
BYRD SURFACE CAMP
PACKING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

2006-Jul-30