Climber Pulls Down Team in Crevasse Fall

In an unorthodox method of demonstrating crevasse fall and self arrest, RossiniGuiding demonstrates the full force of a crevasse fall and how to arrest a falling climber.

#CrevasseFall #CrevasseRescue

[vincentvilasi]

When I was on Denali almost everyone fell into a crevasse at some point in the climb. Most falls were not straight into the abyss, but more like “hey I’m up to my ass or shoulders and there’s nothing below my legs”. With 6-7 people on a rope it was almost routine and drama free to just drag the person out. But it did make you realize that trying to cross that terrain solo would be suicide.

[TheStuffMade]

He must have a lot of confidence in his team to do that on purpose for a training exercise.

[johns]

Good for everyone to actually experience the forces involved in a fall…it’s often more than you think!

[JamesMadelin]

Absolutely fascinating to see how the friction slows down the fall... but how fall the person does fall too! Thanks for sharing.

[stankfaust]

Takes 'trust fall' to a whole new level

[robertspies]

I took a Crevase Rescue Course on the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska in about '96. My buddy Art weighed 230 lbs and jumped in a wide crevasse and I was able to arrest his fall (I was about 180 lbs). He bent me like a pretzel but I was able to get him out with a pulley set up. That is about as real as it gets unless it is a real emergency.

[tonyjewell]

Very sobering to see how close the second person got to the edge of the crevasse. If he had not gotten tight to the next/third person, he may have been pulled in! Something to think about if you're considering traveling on a glacier with a two-person rope team. Spacing far enough apart (like 40-50'/12-15m) and/or tying stopper knots would be a good idea. Or just don't travel on a glacier with just one other person! Also, it looks like that the third person was on belay as a back up, however, I think they were cutting pretty close in terms of catching him before the second person got to the edge of the crevasse!

[BitTwisted]

I remember doing this back in the day. We had a second independent safety rope and belay though. I was the man on the top and managed to get a crampon in, but my body weight was not quite down. I was a only slightly lighter than the victim but got pulled up and spun over, landing face down with front points and ice axe fully embedded. The victim fell 6-8m and was arrested by me and the safety rope. Easy to damage the rope with all that sharp metal moving!
What I learned is you have to be really awake to make this work and a shorter rope makes it harder, something which few are after getting up at 2am and walking back after completing a climb...

[HikerBiker]

When I was in the mountaineers we practiced team arrests and crevasse rescue technics but not to that extreme. I'm assuming the third person that is already down on the snow has a solid anchor in place in case the other two couldn't arrest. The first guy on the rope who got pulled off his feet never even got into arrest position.

[superflybguy]

US Military Mountain Schools make you do this over and over again. They'd put the biggest guy on the jumper end just to prove a point. You do this multiple times then switch positions up and repeat. After the jump you the middle guy works to take most of the fall weight off the anchor man. The anchor man sinks an appropriate anchor. Lots of verbal commands back and forth. If the faller is unresponsive then it gets more complicated, you practice all types of situations. Arrest, take the weight, sink anchor and asses the situation. All while being tactical wearing combat load on top of the usual mountain gear.

[SJR_Media_Group]

In 1971 I was with 3 other climbers and we climbed the north face of Mt Saint Helen's (before eruption). Slope turned to 100 plus percent grade and solid ice. It was so bad, we un-roped. If one fell, it would very likely drag the other 3 with him. It was one of my scariest moments ever in my life. We made summit, then long glissade down. I went thorough a snow bridge and almost fell into crevasse. On top of all that I lost my sun goggle at summit, blew off in the high winds. Basically snow blind for several days, sun blisters on face where not enough Zinc Oxide. And muscles sore as heck. I would do it again, except north face was blasted over 200 square miles from lateral eruption in 1980. Today, there is a gaping hole in what's left of mountain.

[jerome]

Super accurate …. I think people live in this dream land of having time to actually turn and assume the position … get their ice axe out and dig in …. All in about half a second 😩

[TheSaintelias]

That didn’t look like a overly steep slope and they knew it was coming. Shows how hard it is to catch a fall.

[robertgreen]

I lost cousin Milton in a crevace fall in Colorado many years ago. He wasn't found until spring thaw!

[RadFishin]

Talk about trust in your team and equipment. This is basically like having your friend shoot your bullet proof best while you're wearing it, for training/demonstration purposes.

I'm not surprised the team got dragged a little bit, given how much his massive balls must weigh.

[alpacamybag]

Cool to see that technique in action. I wonder what the forces are, a 65kg person accelerated by a 3 meter drop before they start getting their picks in. Then divide that by the 4 man team.
I'll stay down here at sea level and figure it out where it's safe!

[rubiconadventurewithscotty]

Great exercise and learning demo. The physics of friction of a rope over a 90 degree bend is WITH the uphill arrester.
We we descending the Emmons glacier after a summer snowstorm and stumbled upon a crevasse. The lead fell, I was 4 th of 4 and I arrested then held as 2 and 3 set up a Z pulley. I found it VERY easy to hold in my arrested position.

[LCdrDerrick]

May I ask, what if the line cuts so deep into the relatively soft edge, that pulling the team mate up becomes impossible? What's the tactic in this case, when the fallen is unconscious and therefor not able to loosen the tension? In most of the cases the crevasse is covered with snow I'm guessing, so that these things occur quite often I guess?

[happydaysoutdoors]

Perfectly good rope rescue management, I'm sure the guy off to the left is the instructor. 😀 Did mine in the Columbia Icefield

[susanappleby]

So how do they get that heavy guy back up out of the crevasse? If he was injured when falling and couldn’t assist, do they practice recovery?