Over the past couple of months, our Team Leader has been running a series of rope training sessions for the group. The premise of these was to give everyone in the team an understanding of several different rope techniques that we are likely to use during a call out or at training.
At the start of the session, Steve went through a bit of theory behind ropework and then went into the practical. He demonstrated several different types of knots, then we had to practice using offcuts handed out at the start. Once the basic knots were mastered (not so well in my case) then Steve progressed on to how the rope can be attached to something safely. We then got to practice this using carabiners and slings.
The last part of the session looked at using belaying devices and was able to practice rigging up a belay system using the knowledge just learnt.
The evening was really useful and it was a good chance to have a play and become familiar with the kit that we have as a Rescue Team, we like to say a big thank you to ISAR for using their facilities.
