Totem Rigging – Remote Rescue

Other training programs teach how to conduct rescues with heavy gear you can carry in the TRUCK. This workshop will empower you to conduct rescues safely and efficiently with lightweight multi-purpose gear you can carry in your RUCK.

Immerse yourself in our intensive hands-on 5-day Remote Rescue workshop, designed to equip you with essential skills and tools for confidently handling rescue situations with minimal gear. Be prepared for a physically demanding experience as you spend your time honing your skills on the ropes.

To ensure a personalized and impactful learning experience, we maintain small class sizes that allow for detailed feedback, individual support, and ample opportunity to refine your skills.

This workshop is ideal for …

• Search and rescue teams, fire and rescue personnel, REMS teams
• Backcountry rangers, SERT teams, law enforcement
• Individuals from various rope disciplines, including professional guides, canyoneers, cavers and climbers

What you will learn:

• Anchor considerations for rescue
• Rescue loads on marginal and human anchors
• Simple, compound and complex mechanical advantage
• Improvised PCDs
• Converting static rigging to lower or haul
• Converting from lower to haul
• Converting from haul to lower
• Passing a knot while rappelling or ascending
• Passing a knot while lowering or hauling
• Tandem rappels and lowers
• Pick-offs and assisted rappels
• Diminishing loop counter balance
• Assisted diminishing loop counter balance
• Skate blocks and hybrid skate blocks
• Track line lowers and hauls
• Artificial high directionals
• Litter rigging and patient packaging
• Litter belaying, lowing and raising
• Twin Tensioned Rope Systems

Your instructors …

• Rich Carlson has been training climbers and canyoneers, professional guides and rescue teams for more than 35 years. Rich is the designer of the Rock Exotica Totem and the Bluewater VT Prusik.
• Shannon Long is a Captain with the Henderson Nevada Fire Department and the Ropes Facility Manager at Staccato Vegas.

Why learn from Rich and Shannon?

If you are looking for someone to teach you just a few quick techniques that you can memorize, with hopes they will keep you safe and get you through every problem you encounter, some of the less experienced instructors can provide that for you.

But …

• if you want your mind to be stretched to gain an understanding of the underlying principles involved in safe and efficient anchor, rigging and rescue systems
• if you want to learn a critical thinking approach to problem-solving that will enable you to assess each situation and adjust your response accordingly
• if you want to acquire improv skills to utilize the simple gear you have at hand, rather than relying solely on the latest hardware and technology
• if your goal is to become not only “trained”, but truly competent and self-reliant

… then this workshop is what you have been looking for.

Experience cutting-edge technical training designed to empower you with improvisational skills using ultralight, multi-purpose gear.

Gear that each student must provide:

• harness
• helmet
• leather gloves (well fitting)
• one 7mm Bluewater VT Prusik
• 20-feet one inch tubular webbing
• one 7mm or 8mm quick link
• one locking HMS carabiner

Yes, it is a short gear list. But it is enough to rappel, ascend, perform transitions, create a progress capture device for a haul system, build retrievable anchors and much more. The emphasis in this workshop is on resolving problems efficiently with the minimal gear listed above – along with the gear included in the A-TRR (Adaptable Totem Response Rack), which will be provided for your use during the workshop.