Multnomah Falls, Stunt or Training?
I recently attended the 2008 ITRS (International Technical Rescue
Symposium) in Albuquerque New Mexico. Every year this conference of
Rescue Professionals from around the world takes place with
presenters coming to the U.S. from as far away as Canada, Europe and
even New Zealand. There were many interesting presentations this year
but one in particular I thought this group might find interesting.
Multnomah Falls, Stunt or Training?
In April 2008 the USFS invited SAR groups from a four county area
around Portland Oregon to participate in a SAR Fair and Clean-up day
at Multnomah Falls, a fantastic 500+ foot waterfall located about 30
minutes away from Portland in the spectacularly scenic Columbia River
Gorge. It just so happens that Multnomah Falls is only a short
distance down the road from Eagle Creek, a "don't miss" canyon if
you're ever in the Portland area. This waterfall is a huge tourist
attraction and receives somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 million
visitors a year. The event was intended to give SAR teams a chance to
meet the public and showcase their skills and abilities. To this end
Portland Mountain Rescue chose to rig a guided rappel off this
stunningly beautiful waterfall. As you might imagine, the "stunt"
factor for the event was high. However, PMR was able to justify it as
a training exercise. It is the process PMR went through to prepare
for this event that I thought people of this forum would find
interesting.
As canyoners, our approach to this problem (assuming we were carrying
enough rope) would be fairly straight forward. After all, rigging a
guided rappel is not rocket science. Send the first man down to
anchor the guide line at the bottom. Tension and block the guide
line. All subsequent canyoners rappel using the guide line to direct
them away from the waterfall or other potential hazard. PMR however,
had a slightly different approach.
The SAR environment is very different than our recreational world.
When we are out playing in canyons, we are there to have fun. And
although safety is always paramount, we try not to let obsessive
safety concerns interfere with having a good time. Search and Rescue
Teams though, have a different approach. When they get the call, it
means someone is in trouble. And the primary concern of all SAR
exercises is to not add to the problem by creating unintentional
victims. To this end, they typically push their safety margin far
beyond what we are accustomed to.
Rocky Henderson, a member of Portland Mountain Rescue since 1986
organized and managed the event. Rappelling down a waterfall was an
idea very foreign to him. Where we as canyoners would typically rig
the rappel close to, if not in the waterfall. His objective was to
keep rappellers as far away from the water as possible. And where we
would keep extra rope in a bag or a second rope available at the top
in case of a problem, relying on our skill and experience to get down
the drop, they rigged the rappel with multiple, redundant safety's.
And of course, this was prudent as most of the rappellers had never
been over a drop of this size much less one with a raging waterfall
only a few short meters away.
The first thing they did was a thorough reconnaissance of the
location. Including anchors top and bottom as well as physically
measuring the drop with a length of 550# paracord. The second step
was to rig a simulation of the drop at their training facility in
Portland. Rocky understood that the actual event would be a bad place
for an inexperienced rappeller to get his first taste of a drop this
size. So they designed a simulation and required all interested team
members to participate in a day of practice before the actual event.
Although they did not hang a fire hose from the top of their training
tower, they did do a couple of things to simulate potential problems
they could encounter. First, they rigged the guide line from the top
of the tower to a vehicle in the parking lot below. They tensioned
the guide line by ganging on a 3 to 1 MA system. As this is the same
system they use to tension rescue high lines they were careful not to
over tighten the guide line. They then decided it prudent to use the
guide line as a belay for the rappeller and rigged a second lanyard
attachment to the guide line with a Petzl ASAP, self trailing rope
grab. The rappeller was attached to the guide line with his safety
lanyard on a pulley with a second lanyard attached to the ASAP
trailing right behind. The idea being that if there was a main line
failure, the rappeller would not ride the guide line turned zip line
to the bottom. Would be participants had to practice rappelling with
this set up. Because activating the ASAP during the rappel was a
possibility each participant had to first activate the ASAP mid-
rappel then practice taking their weight off it, re-setting and
continuing on with the rappel. To simulate the weight of over 500
feet of rope, they hung a 35 lb. barbell plate on the bottom of the
rappel rope. Rappellers used a three bar rappel rack. Lighter people
only had to use two bars. They offered three practice sessions and
ended up with about 18 trained participants.
During the actual event they used large, stout trees (abundantly
available) about twenty feet back from the edge for anchors at the
top of Multnomah Falls. Separate wrap 3 pull 2 anchors were set up
for each rope with Aztec Kits collapsed to be used as load releasing
systems for contingencies. At the edge of the drop both ropes were
directed through a Kootnay Carriage anchored to another stout tree
with a wrap 3 pull 2 anchor. As in the simulation, the guide rope was
tensioned at the bottom with a 3 to 1 MA system. They used a
messenger cord to haul the ASAP back up to the top for the next
rappeller.
It took rappellers 10 to 20 minutes each to complete the 500+ ft.
rappel. No one had any problems due to the well thought out systems
in place and the fact that every participant had "practiced" the
rappel in simulation. They drew quite a crowd and everyone had fun.
Rocky's conclusion was that the event was valuable on a number of
levels. During a season when their teams mission load was down, it
gave them a real project to work on. The event required extra
training that was different and so more interesting than their normal
fare. This resulted in a real sense of accomplishment for the team
and gave a number of team members a chance to get some real live
experience that otherwise would not have been possible. So although
the event had a very "stunt" like appearance, it is felt that the
training value was well worth the time spent.
Personally, I marvel at the complexity with which they addressed a
problem we have a fairly straight forward solution for. It is
understandable that they would want inexperienced rappellers to
practice before the actual event as they would in no way want to have
to turn this demonstration for the public into an actual rescue. Wish
I coulda been there to watch.
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