technical rescue Archives

Arizona Vortex Configuration Guide for Directional and Anchor Frame Rescue Systems

Lance Piatt / Anchoring, Anchors, Arizona Vortex, Artificial High Directional AHD, Blog, Designing Your Processes, FAQ-Frequently Asked Questions

The Arizona Vortex is often taught as a collection of individual configurations: tripod, A-frame, gin pole, sideways A-frame, and easel-leg variants. But in the field, those configurations are never selected in isolation. Terrain, edge conditions, anchor availability, hauling direction, team size, load path, and operational constraints all shape the decision. This project reframes the Vortex […]

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Teaching the Twin Tension Rope System in the Classroom

Lance Piatt / Blog, Two Tensioned Rope Rescue Systems

The Twin Tension Rope System — TTRS — represents one of the most significant shifts in rescue rigging philosophy in recent decades. For a long time, the standard approach meant one tensioned mainline doing the work while a second rope sat in a slack belay configuration, ready to catch a failure but contributing nothing to

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Elevated Anchor Systems in Technical Rescue

Lance Piatt / Anchoring, Anchors, Blog, Elevated Anchor Systems

Understanding Artificial High Directionals as Structural Systems Artificial High Directionals, often referred to as elevated anchor systems, are sometimes treated as specialized accessories used only when terrain or structure presents a difficult edge. In practice, they are much more significant. These systems function as structural components that influence geometry, manage force vectors, improve movement efficiency,

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Anchor Force Distribution in Technical Rescue Rigging

Lance Piatt / Anchoring, Anchors, Blog, Principles of Learning

Anchor Force Distribution in Technical Rescue Rigging Understanding anchor force distribution in technical rescue is the difference between a technician who follows rules and one who understands why those rules exist. This tool makes that understanding tangible — not through charts or formulas alone, but through live, interactive geometry that responds to your input and

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Scenario Analysis for Operational Rigging Decisions

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Education, Personal Competencies, Safe Practices

Scenario Analysis for Operational Rigging Decisions You have a scenario. Not a question with a clean answer and not a system waiting to be verified — a situation with variables, constraints, and consequences that don’t resolve neatly on paper. The environment is a factor. The anchors are what they are. The load is moving in

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Rigging Pre-Operation Check Before the Load Goes On

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Education, FAQ-Frequently Asked Questions, Personal Competencies, Principles of Learning

Rigging Pre-Operation Check Before the Load Goes On You’ve built the system. The anchors are set, the rope is rigged, and the hardware is in place. You’ve run through it in your head more than once. And still — before you commit, before the load goes on, before the operation begins — there’s a moment

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Rigging Guidance When You Don’t Know Where to Start

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Education, Organizing

Rigging Guidance When You Don’t Know Where to Start You’re somewhere between what you know and what you need to know. Maybe it’s a system configuration you haven’t built before. Maybe it’s a scenario that sits just outside your training. Maybe you’re a student who has absorbed the theory but hasn’t yet found the bridge

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Highline Systems — Planning, Building, and Operating the Crossing

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Dynamic Directional, Education, Highline Rigging, Offset Track Line, Principles of Learning

A highline is a tensioned rope system used to transport a rescuer and patient across a gap that cannot be crossed any other way — canyons, gorges, building-to-building, or industrial spans. When ground access isn’t an option, a highline is. This chapter covers both system types, the calculations that govern them, and how to operate

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Highline System Failures

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Highline Rigging

Highline systems do not fail because of equipment—they fail because of how the system is designed, tensioned, and operated. Every failure can be traced to breakdowns in force management, system independence, or operational control. These are not isolated problems; they compound. Once a system begins to drift outside of controlled behavior, failure becomes a sequence,

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Highline Operations Roles, Movement, and System Control

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Dynamic Directional, Highline Rigging, Horizontal Rigging

A highline system does not succeed because it is built correctly—it succeeds because it is operated correctly. Most system failures occur during movement, not during setup. The structure may be sound, but without coordinated operation, control is lost, and forces become unpredictable. Highline operations are defined by three elements: Clear roles Controlled movement Coordinated input

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Highline Configurations in Rope Rescue When and How to Use Each System

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Highline Rigging

Highline systems are not built from a single template. The configuration selected must match the terrain, the objective, and the level of control required. The mistake is not choosing the wrong gear—it is choosing the wrong system structure. Each configuration changes how force moves, how the load behaves, and how the team must operate. Understanding

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Basic Rope Rescue Operations Three Day Training Progression

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Principles of Learning

I received several similar requests for ingredients of a “Basic Ropes Class”… Rope rescue demands clarity, discipline, and a layered approach to learning. Skills cannot be rushed, and they cannot be learned out of order. Each step builds the next, and each concept strengthens the rescuer’s ability to operate under tension and uncertainty. This three-day

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Horizontal Rope Rescue Systems and Highline Movement Techniques

Physics of Horizontal Rope Rescue Systems

Lance Piatt / Anchoring, Anchors, Artificial High Directional AHD, Blog, Dynamic Directional, Highline Rigging, Horizontal Rigging, Mainline Systems and Operations, Twin Tension Rope System

Physics of Horizontal Rope Rescue Systems Why sideways movement is the real test of a rigger’s mind. Vertical rope work is the entry exam. Gravity defines the path, the system behaves predictably, and most mistakes are recoverable. But move a rescue load sideways—even fifty feet across a gap or diagonally off a tower—and everything changes.

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Balancing Online and Hands-On Training -Knots for Force Multiplication in Rope Rescue - Steep Highline Calculations and Rigging Techniques

High Tension Highline Rigging Mastery for Technical Rope Rescue

Lance Piatt / Anchors, Artificial High Directional AHD, Blog, Designing Your Processes, Mainline Systems and Operations, Principles of Learning, Technical Learning, Twin Tension Rope System

The ability to span a canyon, river, industrial void, or structural gap is one of the most demanding skills in advanced rope rescue. While offsets, tracklines, and guided systems are essential tools, the true test of technician-level capability is the high-tension highline. Unlike everyday rigging, high-tension systems do not forgive misunderstandings in geometry or guesswork

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Horizontal Movement Systems in Rope Rescue

Counterintuitive Principles of Elite Rope Rescue Systems

Lance Piatt / Anchoring, Blog, Designing Your Processes, Mainline Systems and Operations, Twin Tension Rope System

1. The Ultimate System Test: What Happens If Everyone Lets Go? The “whistle test” is one of the simplest yet most powerful tools in rope rescue. It strips away the illusion of operator control and evaluates the system on pure mechanical resilience. If a sudden distraction — a falling rock, a hornet swarm, or a

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Technical Rescue Efficiency The Three Pillars of Controlled Patient Transport

Lance Piatt / Blog, Litter Operations, Patient Packaging

In professional rescue environments, efficiency is achieved through the deliberate balance of mechanical precision, system predictability, and patient safety. Technical rescue operations—especially in vertical and confined space environments—demand that every action be guided by principle, not impulse. Success is rarely improvised; it is engineered. The governing framework of efficiency in patient transport can be defined

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Twin Tension Rope Systems (TTRS) Mastery for Rescue Safety

Lance Piatt / Blog, Mainline Systems and Operations, Pulleys & Mechanical Advantage, Twin Tension Rope System Clutch, Two (Twin) Tension Rope Systems, Two Tensioned Rope Rescue Systems

In modern technical rescue, moving beyond traditional main-and-belay configurations is essential to achieving superior safety margins and operational efficiency. The shift is towards Dual Mainline Rope Systems, also known as Twin Tension Rope Systems (TTRS). These systems fundamentally change the dynamics of load control by actively engaging both ropes to share the load equally, thus

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5 First Principles of Rescue Rigging

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Principles of Learning

The Immutable Laws of Rigging: A Guide to First Principles This document outlines five principles of rescue rigging—foundational truths that are non-negotiable and from which all safe practice is derived. These principles cannot be reduced further; they are the absolute realities that govern every decision made in a life-or-death scenario. 1. The Principle of

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Building a Rope Rescue Team with Terrain Awareness and Training Manuals

Lance Piatt / Blog, Designing Your Processes, Team Competencies

Congratulations on stepping into leadership for your search and rescue ropes team. It’s no small task. Building a rope rescue team requires more than equipment — it demands a keen understanding of terrain, a plan to close knowledge gaps, and a structured training manual that evolves with your team. These three pillars form the backbone

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two tension twin tension lower single operator back tension safety

CMC Clutch Twin Tension Two Tension Lower

Lance Piatt / Belaying, Blog, CMC Clutch by Harken Industrial, Twin Tension Rope System Clutch

The CMC Clutch Twin Tension Two Tension Lower has become a defining standard in modern rope rescue systems. By integrating the Clutch into a Twin Tension Rope System (TTRS), rescuers can achieve smoother control, balanced load distribution, and built-in redundancy. Whether lowering or raising, the Clutch ensures safe transitions, adaptability across rescue environments, and confidence

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