Sunday Skill Builders: Mechanical Advantage in Self Rescue

Activity Notes

• Sunday Skill Builders: Mechanical Advantage in Self-Rescue
• Sunday May 14
• Registration opens: April 14
• 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
• Mazamas Mountaineering Center (SE 43rd and Stark, Portland)
• Mazamas members $25, non-members $35
• Recommended experience level: All levels welcome. Familiarity with basic climbing knots and friction hitches

New for 2023, the Sunday Skill Builders happen on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, usually from 6 to 9 PM. The second Sunday is more for beginner/intermediate topics, and the fourth Sunday is more for intermediate/advanced techniques.  Registration opens one month before the class. Topics will rotate and repeat, so if you miss one and want to take it, keep an eye out for it again.

Students are generally accepted first-come first-served. Please apply soon after the date when applications open to have the best chance of getting in the class.

This class covers the theory and hands-on practice of 2:1, 3:1, and 6:1 mechanical advantage systems. We’ll focus on building them with minimal gear in the scenarios of crevasse or rock rescue. 

Gear needed: harness, a few carabiners, rappel device, a few slings/runners, friction hitch/prusik loop. (If you have any fancier things like pulleys, a Petzl Traxion or rope clamps like a Tibloc, please bring those also.)

If you don’t have this gear, no problem, we can share. This will be "ground school", so no helmet or rock shoes are needed.

Please read these web links before class. Having a basic understanding of these will make our class time be more effective, hint hint. They are from my website, alpinesavvy.com.

• Introduction to MA systems
• Overview of a simple pulley system
• A few basic questions and answers about MA systems
• 6:1 compound pulleys in the real world

See ya!

John Godino and Andy Nuttbrock, Clinic coordinators