ROPE “WRENCHES”: A CUTTING PROBLEM
BY CHUCK DEAN
The use of knives, often referred to as “rope wrenches,” among high-angle rescue personnel is highly controversial. Many rescuers believe that knives of any description have no place in conjunction with ropes; others hold that knives are necessary tools for technical rope rescue. The reason for the controversy is that knives in the vicinity of loaded ropes can be life threatening and must be used with extreme care.
Many believe that the primary danger of using knives in rope rescue is the accidental cutting of the wrong rope. It is assumed that trained and experienced rescuers will make such a dire mistake. The problem is not that simple, as the following actual examples illustrate.
EXAMPLES
During a training exercise involving a highly complex high-riser modification of a Tyrolean traverse spanning approximately 100 feet and 25 feet high, a haul rope became hopelessly tangled and jammed, stopping the operation. The litter attendant, a highly skilled mountaineering instructor and rescue specialist, decided to cut it away from the system. Ensuring that he had the right rope, and checked by his teammate, he sliced through the rope with his pocket knife. The entire system collapsed and fell the 25 feet to the canyon bottom. Miraculously, no one was injured as a result.
In another training incident, a “victim” was suspended from a rope, simulating an uninjured worker hanging by his safety strap on a radio tower 30 feet off the ground. The scenario required a rescuer to climb to the victim and attach a rescue rope that would be on a brake device for lowering. Once the victim was secured, the victim`s strap was to be cut to transfer the load to the lowering rope. Both persons involved checked to ensure that the proper rope was identified, and then it was cut. Upon lowering the “victim” to the ground, the rescue rope, 12-inch static kernmantle, was found to be cut almost in half. Again, all parties were extremely lucky.
Both of these incidents were near tragedies, and both involved highly skilled and experienced rescue technicians. As might be expected, cutting the wrong rope was not the culprit. The problem was the knife`s close proximity to other loaded ropes. A mere touch by a sharp edge was all it took to sever the loaded ropes. In both cases, the individuals did not even realize the blade had made contact with anything other than the intended target.
Most people have cut unloaded rope and realize that, even with a “Rambo”-style combat knife, some exertion must be used to saw or cut the rope. With the rope under tension, however, it is easily severed. As a result, rescuers, when confronted with the situations mentioned above, will overpower their thrust with the blade, going through the intended target rope and contacting other critical ropes in the system, inviting disaster.
SOLUTIONS
Any time a knife is used to cut a rope in a rescue situation, it must be used with great care. Certainly, the target must be clearly identified; but other ropes must be completely clear or protected as well. Using your gloved hand to shield a rope located behind the target is one alternative. You certainly cut more carefully as a result. Rope edge protectors also could be employed. Cutting in a direction that ensures no possible contact with other ropes is also a requirement. The easiest and possibly safest remedy is to avoid the use of knives when ropes are being used in life-safety situations. Trauma shears or “penny cutters” are excellent alternatives to knives. They will certainly cut any rope used for high-angle rescue and are more safely controlled.
Awareness of the problem is also a key to preventing it. During training, suspend one-person load weights from old rescue ropes and demonstrate how easily they are cut under tension. Increase the loads such as would be produced on the suspension lines of Tyrolean traverse, and you will see a mere touch of the blade seemingly explode the rope. That was exactly what happened in the first near-disaster example.
All aspects of high-angle rescue techniques are extremely hazardous. Every identifiable potential risk should be eliminated. The safe handling of knives around high-angle rescue systems must assume that all ropes are loaded; and as a result, they will cut like butter with little effort. Never point the knife in the direction of something you do not intend to cut. Better yet, hang a pair of trauma shears on your climbing harness, and be on the cutting edge of safer high-angle rescue technology. n
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(Left) Using a knife or “rope wrench” in the vicinity of loaded ropes–even by highly skilled and experienced rescuers–can be life-threatening. Rope under tension is easily severed. It is safer to use trauma shears or “penny cutters,” which can be more easily and safely controlled. (Right) The more complicated the rope system, the greater the potential for disaster when cutting a rope. A mere touch by a sharp edge is all it takes to sever loaded ropes. If a rope wrench must be used, the following safety precautions are mandatory: Clearly identify the target rope; keep other ropes completely clear of the knife; use your gloved hand to shield a rope located behind the target rope; use rope edge protectors; and cut in the direction opposite the ropes to ensure that the knife cannot come close to any rope.
CHUCK DEAN is a lieutenant with the Colorado Springs (CO) Fire Department, where he was instrumental in establishing the department`s high-angle rescue program and serves as the program coordinator and company officer of one of its high-angle rescue units. He has more than 25 years of technical rope rescue and mountaineering experience, which includes serving as leader of the U.S. Army High Altitude Mountain Rescue Team, instructor training officer of the Army`s ski-mountaineering school in Alaska, and nationally appointed mountaineering instructor within the National Ski Patrol System. His articles on rope rescue techniques have been published in various magazines.
