Tactical Ropes Day Scheduled - Portland - April 23rd

[bkb0000]

since this thread is getting long/cluttered, i'm editing the first post with pertinent information as well as the roster.

intent:

day to practice rappels- tactical and/or E&E (escape and evasion)

necessary gear:

as i've said, it depends on what YOU want to work on. if you just want to have fun and learn straight up rappelling, then i'd suggest either renting a sport climbing pack from a local climb shop- probably $25 for the day- or buying a harness, 'biners, belay device, etc. if you rent a sport climbing package, you'll have everything you need. CORRECTION- you still need to bring your own leather gloves.

so loadout for tactical rappel, to buy:

- harness $45-$90, for a good sport climbing harness, or $150-$300+ for an authentic "tactical" harness (not recommended). any climbing shop, and REI, unless you want the fancy shit- then you need to check out Yates gear online
- HMS locking carabiner $10-$20, any shop, REI
- belay device... some suggestions-
.....ATC - $12-$16 at REI,
.....DMM V-Twin - $25-$30 (no longer in production, but US Outdoors in portland still has some- these are very good devices for rappelling, as they don't get hot)
.....figate - $3-$15 (also doesn't get hot, and is the traditional standard, but can be difficult to control, they twist the rope, and are generally considered obsolete outside of the tactical community) available for $3 at Climb Max in portland, or you can get the supposedly better (i've never tried it) Super 8 at REI for like $15.. they probably have regular figates too.
.....Grigri - $75ish at REI - these, and similar devices, are sort of cool for rappelling where you know you'll need to make a lot of lock-off stops or have to **** with gear, etc.. anything that will require quick stopping or both hands
whatever you do- please don't bring a "tube" or "pyramid" type device... they get way too hot, and i'm anal about heat on nylon. i don't even like the ATC, for rappelling, but it's what everyone seems to have..
- basic thicker leather gloves. in my opinion, from a cost perspective, you cannot beat Walmart's $8 "Wells Lamont" gloves. get a pair that fits close, but not tight.
- helmet if you want (if we get the building, probably not gonna wear it) $40-$140+

grand total: $80 - $285ish+, and you'd be perfectly outfitted at $80. when in doubt, go as basic as you can.

anyone feel free to point out anything i'm missing

for a purely E&E day on the rope-

- 18' of 1" or wider, preferably tubular, rated nylon webbing, available at MOST climbing shops (many don't carry webbing that wide, so call ahead), and REI has plenty. i personally don't trust surplus shop webbing- those places have no problem selling JUNK $5? nothin' -or- you can bring 12-13' of 11mm'ish (don't go much thinner) ROPE rather than webbing, to make a "swiss seat"... price will be about the same
- HMS locking carabiner $10-$20
- leather gloves $8
- helmet if you want $40-$140+
- basic rappel device (I'm going to demonstrate the munter hitch, and probably everyone who wants to will get to try it, but it unnecessarily tears up the rope) - if you're willing to put out the bucks, and you live less than 200' from the ground, then a Grigri is actually a really good investment for an E&E kit. might save your life, if you have to rappel in a panic.

grand total - $25 - $100

feel free to pm me for clarification/whatever

who's invited:

8 people physically fit enough for intense fear and a possibly near-vertical climb back up (depending on location, which is still a question-mark)

roster, thus far:

1. bkb0000
2. tradja
3. misty
4. misty's boy
5. alvin
6. t-bone
7.
8.

where/when:

Saturday, April 23, 2011. currently have Rocky Butte in Portland as our fallback plan, but i'm trying to find a BUILDING or appropriate bridge, for authentic urban rappel

note on gear compatibility-

if you're bringing guns (and you should be), i pretty much suggest you plan to open carry. if i carry during the event, i will likely go to a drop-leg holster and OC, because hip carry and harness wearing don't really mesh well. IWB is especially un-cool- a large portion of your weight will be compressing the gun into your hip, and it's not only very uncomfortable, but probably not a great thing to subject your weapon to. gun in a backpack also works, if you don't want to OC.

feel free to bring your carbine and range loadout. all i ask is that you keep the weapon empty and have an orange chamber flag inserted while we're on the wall. it MAY end up not being a great idea to bust out the hardcore stuff, depending on where we end up and how many anti-gun hippy climber types we may or may not have around us.

disclaimer:

rappelling is dangerous. if your equipment fails, or if you make a simple mistake, you could easily die or suffer serious injury. there will be no instructors on-site- just a bunch of crazy yahoos slappin' each other with the hotmops and shit.

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see the rest of the thread for further details, feel free to PM me or post

[readyme]

I would love to do some of that. I am a rope/rescue tech at my fire department...it would be fun to do some different stuff.
But, Portland is a bit far for me.
You never know, if something does get planned, I might just have to crash the party!

[bkb0000]

I would love to do some of that. I am a rope/rescue tech at my fire department...it would be fun to do some different stuff.
But, Portland is a bit far for me.
You never know, if something does get planned, I might just have to crash the party!

it'd be awesome if i could get at least one other guy experienced with ropes. one guy tail-braking at the bottom, one guy for instruction up top. that way i wouldn't feel compelled to put up a gay-ass top-rope. where are you located?

[readyme]

I am located about 30 minutes east of Tacoma.
It sounds like an awesome opportunity. Is it goin to simply be rappeling, or other things thrown in there?

[Titleist]

I'd be down for this.

[reiswigt]

I'd have some interest if the timing were right.

[tradja]

it'd be awesome if i could get at least one other guy experienced with ropes. one guy tail-braking at the bottom, one guy for instruction up top. that way i wouldn't feel compelled to put up a gay-ass top-rope. where are you located?

I'm very interested. I'm a casual recreational rock climber and could bring a 60m dynamic rope, 1 medium men's harness, 1 small women's harness, ATC, misc other gear, and could be the bottom brakeman. I've only rappelled using an ATC and a Grigri and would be very interested to learn other techniques (body friction, Figure 8, etc).

I've never integrated my tactical training and my basic climbing skills - they've always been separate hobbies for me, though they are similar in strict safety requirements and attention to detail. I don't readily see the application, but heck, I'd be down for a tactical cooking class. This would be very interesting.

I'd be coming from Bend and would be down to carpool.

[bkb0000]

I am located about 30 minutes east of Tacoma.
It sounds like an awesome opportunity. Is it goin to simply be rappeling, or other things thrown in there?

gonna depend entirely on who's coming and who knows what. i'd much rather it be a collective knowledge sharing day than a "class." we'd be able to cover more advanced stuff, and move through it faster. but if we just end up with a cluster of noobs, i'm totally OK with that too... we just won't have the time to get past the basics of anchors, knots, and descending. regardless, i want to have plenty of time to run through exercises to some degree of competency... new guys should get at least three clean rappels. i've never been big on "classes" where you're basically just shown a few things you don't understand, given one, maybe two opportunities to rap, then told to get out of the way. quality over quantity.

i'm still in the "that would be cool" phase of planning, though.. i have no course outline or plan of any sort... just gaging interest. as people show interest, i'll start refining my intent.

[bkb0000]

I'm very interested. I'm a casual recreational rock climber and could bring a 60m dynamic rope, 1 medium men's harness, 1 small women's harness, ATC, misc other gear, and could be the bottom brakeman. I've only rappelled using an ATC and a Grigri and would be very interested to learn other techniques (body friction, Figure 8, etc).

I've never integrated my tactical training and my basic climbing skills - they've always been separate hobbies for me, though they are similar in strict safety requirements and attention to detail. I don't readily see the application, but heck, I'd be down for a tactical cooking class. This would be very interesting.

I'd be coming from Bend and would be down to carpool.

i'm using the term "tactical" loosely... basically just differentiating between what we'd be doing and, say, sport application... although there's plenty of crossover. really, i should call it "E&E ropes day," since that's more what i have on my mind. "tactical" would tend more toward the few various rappelling styles- basic ass-down, invert, geneva... we'll only be covering ass-down, unless we get out there and everybody already happens to know it sleeping.

but definitely will cover improvisation- improv harnesses, improv anchors, improv/other belaying- munter ("improvised" for those of us used to ATCs), 5-'biner brake, maybe figure 8- although i feel the figure 8 is basically obsolete and unnecessarily dangerous, this day and age. i haven't done much with body friction- nothing genuine- but maybe i'll **** around with a couple methods for demonstrative purposes. that IS, afterall, the quintessential "improvised" method.

[tradja]

i'm using the term "tactical" loosely... basically just differentiating between what we'd be doing and, say, sport application... although there's plenty of crossover. really, i should call it "E&E ropes day," since that's more what i have on my mind. "tactical" would tend more toward the few various rappelling styles- basic ass-down, invert, geneva... we'll only be covering ass-down, unless we get out there and everybody already happens to know it sleeping.

but definitely will cover improvisation- improv harnesses, improv anchors, improv/other belaying- munter ("improvised" for those of us used to ATCs), 5-'biner brake, maybe figure 8- although i feel the figure 8 is basically obsolete and unnecessarily dangerous, this day and age. i haven't done much with body friction- nothing genuine- but maybe i'll **** around with a couple methods for demonstrative purposes. that IS, afterall, the quintessential "improvised" method.

Gotcha. Sounds great and I'm in. The improvised gear and techniques would be of great interest to me. Let me know if I can bring any of my limited gear once we get it scheduled.