Portable Anchors

Two Rope Twin Tension Mini Offset… Backcountry Meets Fire Service

~This is a quick snippet of something we filmed when we first opened up RLA’s studio lab ~ Two Rope Twin Tension Mini Offset… Backcountry Meets Fire Service   So backcountry meets fire service… sounds like a battle of some sort.  So while this “match up” is really neither epic nor epoch, this contest does …

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Powered Winches and Tripods

Powered Winches and Tripods   We are seeing an interesting collision of techniques: Standard triangular pyramid tripods used for confined space rescue Asymmetrical multi-pods used for technical rope rescue and rope access Powered winches   Confined space operators have long been using symmetrical tripods with frame-mounted manual winches. These are normally set up over a …

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Highline Anchors Featuring Removable Bolts

This piece is from the RLA course Highline Sections with Tom Woods What we’re going to look at next is the actual anchoring system for the Highline that we’ve just done. It’s a little bit unique setup in that we’ve done all of our anchoring for everything off of removable bolts. Given the area where …

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Anchoring: Focus Floating Guying Concepts

Obviously anchoring as a concept is a huge topic.  The variations in any given anchoring course can range wildly depending on the vision, scope, knowledge and imagination a give team or person has.  Here is what a typical anchoring course would look like.  I have rounded them out to 10 topics. Anchor Points Selection and …

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Working on the Horizon Line: Seeing What Lurks Below Requires a Higher Vantage Point

The Story For a long time you were the lone wolf.  Making decisions about life and your team’s future and basing the decisions off of what you thought would be best… without much input from others. We’ve all been in that place and now… we need to rethink how we are making decisions and planning …

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Weekend at the Volcano: A Custom Course Focusing on High Angle Rigging Techniques

This past weekend, Rigging Lab Academy was privileged to spend some time in the beautiful Washington State country with the Volcano Rescue Team; an MRA team responsible for rescues on Mt. Saint Helens. A few months ago the team reached out to RLA inquiring about our ability to deliver a three day course that was …

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RLA Live: Volcano Rescue Team

I just got back from RLA’s first ever Live On-site training in Mt. St. Helens National Monument with the Volcano Rescue Team. It was awesome, I loved connecting with these amazing people.  They ranged from full time EMS professionals, self employed designers, engineers, freelancers, mechanics, guides and a host of other passions and occupations. Jason …

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Winch Power, Artificial High Directionals and Human Curiosity

We have been saying for years… “it doesn’t take 6 people to do a rescue”.  Really!  Two strong, smart and logical riggers (certainly no more than three) can do a raise and lower from just about any place. I think over the years, a near sided perspective and a lack of vision has kept thousands …

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What’s the Buzz about the Artificial High Directional?

There is no secret that the Artificial High Directional has become, and is currently all the craze in the rescue world. These systems can be somewhat costly, and undoubtedly entail a good amount of specialized training; so the question is why have so many teams across the world turned to these tools as a must-have …

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