Grigri Pick Off Rescue Technique

(This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!)

When I first started taking my twin boys outdoors for climbing, we started with stuff that was maybe class three or class four scrambling, but I would go up and build a trad anchor and setup a top rope. The kids were something like two going on three years old in clunky toddler shoes, so slipping wasn’t exactly out of the realm of possibility. We got them the smallest fully body harnesses we could find (young kids have a disproportionate share of their body weight coming from their heads, so it’s easy for them to tip over when they fall - hence, fully-body harnesses they can slip out of at the hips). We got kids helmets. We had fleeces and sun shirts and layers.

… and I started on a journey.

I had always been a pretty self-sufficient climber, proud of the fact that I could get myself out of almost any situation I might manage to get myself into. But I had also only been out with adult partners who were capable of contributing to any team rescue should we end up in such unfortunate circumstances.

But now I had to know how (and needed to have the gear with me) to get all three of us out of any situation. I also could expect now help. Worse, maybe I could expect panic from my partners.

Of course, starting small with climbs that no adult would need to protect with ropes was part of the risk mitigation. But the long term safety came from endless learning. I worked with guides. I read books. I watched videos. I practiced on the ground. I practiced (eventually) on the cliff.

Now, we are evolving into a new stage in our family’s climbing journey. The kids have been leading rock for awhile, now, capable of multi-pitch sport leads. They have top roped each other on single pitch climbs for years. And they are getting more mature, self-reliant, and independent. Sure, it’s a long way to go on all those fronts, but they are starting to ask to take on different climbs and routes at some far corner of the crag where I (and often my wife) are nearby, but they aren’t right next to us all of the time, anymore.

So, I wanted to start them on their next tack of learning, making sure they can deploy the techniques they would need to get themselves out of a situation, just as I had done when climbing with my adult friends. See, it’s not age that is the trigger, it’s independence. And if they are going to be in situations where they need a little help, can they stabilize the environment (say by escaping a belay or the like) so that they are free to go get that help.

It’ll be a life time of learning, probably, but it has entered a new phase, a path towards self-reliance as opposed to reliance upon me. Of course, that has been the goal all along, but it suddenly feels very real, now. Maybe it’s just the natural parenting shock of having the kids take those first tentative steps away from my watchful eye. I knew it was coming (although I didn’t know when), and I’m happy it’s arriving, in that “bittersweet” way. It’s what’s supposed to happen.

But it feels very real.

Beyond the emotional side of it, though, a good and practical first step for them is gaining the fundamentals of single pitch rescue, which eventually becomes the foundation of multi-pitch, and so on. So, we’ve started a single pitch rescue series, and this video is the first installment. The simplest procedure in terms in engineering and rope work is the pick off using a Grigri. Things will get more sophisticated from there, as we get into future videos in the series. But for now, take a look, and maybe consider a Grigri as part of a simple-to-use single pitch system.