Tibloc for Crevasse Rescue? Master This Release Technique
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Let’s talk about types of hammers. Here’s a truncated list:
Ball peen, claw, electrician’s, dead blow, framing, mallet, sledge, tack, brick, dry wall, rock.
That’s a truncated list. Here’s a link to a list with 55 types of hammers.
So, when we have something like an ascender turned rope capture device, like the Petzl Tibloc, I am left to ask how it differs from other options out the world. There are lots, but one of the “most popular” options is the Petzl Micro Traxion. I could name more: Roll N’ Lock, Ropeman, Duck… heck, just a prusik cord.
Each one of these have tradeoffs when compared to the others. Roll N’ Lock doesn’t have teeth. Is that a good thing? Might be less likely to damage your rope. Might be more likely to slip when the rope gets icy.
And so it goes, too, for the Petzl Tibloc, which is the piece of gear that was the genesis of this video. As I stated in the video, I got a question from someone asking if they could use it as a progress capture for crevasse rescue, reducing the overall weight of their rack given the typical alternatives of a tube device with accompanying prusik loop or the Petzl Micro Traxion.
As the video gets into, the short answer is a simple, “Yes.” But the long answer is, “Yes, but not without tradeoffs.” The video is about the tradeoffs, with a particular lingering on one particular tradeoff: unloading a loaded Tibloc can be pretty hard when we don’t already have a load transfer option in place. If we think about a rope ascension (given that the Tibloc is designed and marketed as an ascender), we are constantly alternating between the Tibloc, if that is the rope connection for our leg loop, and something else at our waist. The load transfer to get off of the Tibloc is built into the system. That is often not the case in a crevasse rescue. So, should we start hauling only to discover, after, the need to lower (sometimes going down into the crevasse leads to a ramp that can more easily be climbed - or even walked), we are left with a hefty and time-consuming piece of engineering to set up.
If that’s a tradeoff that is worth it to you: low weight for loss of easy-lowering functionality, then go for it. If not, we should probably we aware of the tradeoff.
You can work metal with a claw hammer, put a ball peen is less likely to break as you shape the metal than one of the claws.
As you’ll see in the video, I make a Münter-Mule-Overhand as well as a block-and-tackle. Those both take wide carabiners. And, of course, the video is structured as a comparison between the Tibloc and the Micro Traxion. If you want to be able to do all the things I do in this video with all the gear I use to do it with, here are the links:
Of course, the “subject” of this video, the Petzl Tibloc
The “alternative” in the Petzl Micro Traxion
For a large HMS carabiner, I typically use the Petzl William
For a medium HMS carabiner, I like the DMM Phantom HMS and the Petzl Attache