A practice rescue of an injured rock climber. Michael Powers

Practicing advanced rock rescue techniques. Michael Powers

Imagine a rock leader taking a fall and breaking an ankle. You want to lower him, but you don't have enough rope. Imagine taking a family member out who has never climbed before. He gets half-way up a top-rope problem and freezes. He won't climb up or lower down. Imagine your partner, whipping under a roof that you lead. He can't reach the wall and can't get back on the route. He's stuck.

Each of the preceding problems could happen to any climber anytime, anywhere. If you are not prepared to deal with these issues, a minor epic could easily evolve into a full-on situation where somebody gets seriously hurt or dies. Rock rescue is an absolutely essential skill.

Our rescue courses address what you can do with the minimal gear that you normally carry in the mountains. In other words, we want climbers to be able to do most of the things that a Search and Rescue crew might do with a large amount of gear and helicopter support, with nothing more than a rack and a rope.

Rescue skills should be thought of as a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum is the climber who can't pull a move and needs his partner to rig a quick hauling system for assistance. On the other end of the spectrum is the seriously injured climber who needs to be lowered down tricky multi-pitch terrain with a lot of assistance. There is a tremendous amount of material in the entire spectrum of rock rescue and only a small amount of it can be addressed in a two-hour session.

Rock rescue is a life long learning process. While you may only get the basics in this clinic, serious climbers should consider yearly training in rescue skills. You never know when you will need to use this material and the more knowledge you have, the better the outcome will be in any real rescue situation.

We thoroughly cover basic rescue techniques that every climber needs to know. We review anchors, equalizing protection, and rappelling and practice belay escapes, passing knots, and ascending ropes. We apply hauling and lowering systems as well as rappelling with an accident victim. The course also covers the issues involved in combining emergency medical services with the rescue procedures.

When you complete this course you should be well equipped with the management skills and the technical procedures needed for dealing with the accidents and problems commonly encountered in rock and ice climbing. This course can also be customized for specialized activities, missions, and settings.

High angle rescues are dangerous and demanding. Even climbers experienced in meeting the challenges of steep and glaciated terrain get confused when dealing with the added complications of an injured partner.

We offer this advanced course for skilled leaders of multi-pitch rock routes, experienced alpinists, those on mountain search and rescue teams, and any professional who may need to work on a high angle rescue. This course will increase your resourcefulness in accident response and help you develop the technical skills necessary to solve difficult rescue problems.

This course is designed to complement the life-saving skills of the Wilderness First Responder program. Together they provide the necessary foundation for technical proficiency and excellence in wilderness leadership.

We cover anchors and fixed lines, tension release mechanisms, lowering and compound hauling systems, and special techniques used in leader-fall rescues. You'll practice improvising and managing litters and discuss issues in incident command and helicopter support. By the end of the program, you should be very resourceful when directing high angle rescues, be familiar with "state-of-the-art" hardware, and understand the differences between operating from within a search and rescue group and the tight parameters of a small, self-contained climbing team.

All of the skills and methodologies from the Rock Rescue Courses can be transferred to both the glacier and waterfall ice environments. Please call us for details at 800-424-2249 for more details or to set up a High Angle Rescue course for either glacier or waterfall ice.

Here climbers practice their crevasse rescue skills. Joe Stock

A rescuer practices retrieving an injured climber from a crevasse.

For both the intro and the advanced courses, most climbers will need one day of "ground-school" with a second day of practical application. However, the length of the course will be dictated by a climber's skill-set. Those with basic skills that do not yet lead on multi-pitch terrain may need a longer program than those who have years of experience. Those who need to review foundational anchor building and traditional leading skills will need a three or four day program. It is also possible to combine an intro and advanced level program into a three to five day program.

To determine where you stand, please speak to one of our program coordinators. They will advise you as to the number of days you might need to review foundational skills as well as to develop higher-level rescue techniques.

Cost for 1-day practicum:

$365 - Private
$260 - (per person) 2 people
$200 - (per person) 3 people
$175 - (per person) 4 people
$150 - (per person) 5 people

The instructors of AAI's Rock Rescue program are staff members of the Institute and veteran mountain guides and rescuers with decades of experience in the vertical world. They have extensive field knowledge of what it takes to direct a successful rescue--years of professional rescue work and big wall climbing and mountaineering from Yosemite to Alaska's remote Wrangell St. Elias Range as well as in South America and Asia. They are Wilderness First Responder certified and have AMGA training.

AAI has years of experience helping develop rescue protocols for government agencies, designing rescue components for guide certification programs, and training volunteer and professional mountain rescue groups, military teams, and military trainers.

British Columbia: Squamish

Washington: Leavenworth, Index, and Mt. Erie.

California: Joshua Tree from October through May; the Eastern Sierra from May through September.

Nevada: Red Rock Canyon - September through May. Warm desert climbing within 30 miles of Las Vegas.

Custom Programs: AAI guides may be able to travel to other locations to runs specialized private courses for clubs, universities, search and rescue groups, or for the military. Courses can be tailored to specialized backcountry, front country, or urban settings or to emphasize a particular type of climbing, terrain, or setting. Many of the baseline skills may be taught at a rock gym if we are not able to access a climbing area. Please contact us to inquire about costs and logistical issues.

If you are interested in Rock Rescue, you might also be interested in learning about our AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Certification Course. This course was designed to help capable recreational climbers transition into capable and effective climbing instructors.

The AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) strongly suggests this course as a precursor to those interested in pursuing Rock Instructor or Rock Guide training and certification.