Week 5--Confined Space rescue.
We actually started out our Thursday lab learning how to ascend a fixed rope. I'll admit, I enjoy looking down on the world.
Haha.
Just a little visual aid, in case anyone cares. A rope was rigged from a ceiling beam (and, yes, we had a belay line for safety) and two prussik knots are tied around the fixed rope. One prussik knot is hooked up to the front of your harness (refer to E and G in the diagram) and the other knot is attached to a loop of webbing for a foothold. You put your weight into the foothold and loosen the top prussik knot enough to slide it up the rope as far as you can reach. Sit back into your harness and let that knot tighten so it holds your weight. Then you loosen the prussik for the foothold and slide that up. Put your weight into the foothold, grab the rope above the top knot and pull yourself upward, then and repeat the entire process, scooching your way up the rope.
Confined space was fun, too. After we got our good scare over the potential dangers of confined spaces (entrapment, engulfment, asphyxiation, etc) in lecture, we got our gloves, eye protection and helmets (and if you were smart, a flashlight or head lamp) and trooped out to the tower. We broke up into teams of two and started the little rat maze beneath the building. It starts out large enough to crawl and your hands and knees, maybe sit upright a bit (or maybe that's just the dwarves like me). My partner Chris (yes, you know him, KT) was taller so maybe he had a slightly harder time. We crawl through the tunnel to a dead-end, turn around and go back the way we came. Then we move into another tunnel, a little smaller, with cold, muddy water pooled on the floor.
Something like that.
My headlamp would have been a useful tool if it had stayed on my helmet. The tunnel abruptly ends, coming out into the parking lot, and from there we circle around to the other side of the building and re-enter the tunnels. Much smaller now, more water, and now the narrow diameter of the tunnels has slowed down some of the larger guys. If you were claustrophobic, that would have been the time to have a panic attack, because we were so backed up that there was someone in front of your, with their boots sticking in your face, and someone behind you who couldn't go backwards either. If you were, er, larger, you were belly crawling by that point. For once in my life, I was glad I was small. I stayed on my hands and knees mostly. There was a pit about halfway through the tunnel, filled with deep, muddy water and brown sludge that had to be carefully forded on a narrow plank. If you fell in...I would probably have laughed. We were already filthy anyway!
The tunnel was longer than I had expected, and it was nice to finally see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I scrambled out of the tunnel's exit, falling forward like the klutz I am and surveyed the damage. Mud splatters all up my knees and boots that would very soon be mud-encrusted. Darn. I had just polished them, too.
Two of my classmates stationed themselves outside the tunnel to assist, none too gently, some of the other guys out by grabbing their arms and pulling until their victim shot out of the tunnel like a cannonball. If they came out too fast...sorry, but you're getting a face full of dirt. It was pretty funny observing our group in the aftermath. Dirty...really dirty. :) But the overall consensus was that it had been an awesome day.
We actually started out our Thursday lab learning how to ascend a fixed rope. I'll admit, I enjoy looking down on the world.
Haha.
Just a little visual aid, in case anyone cares. A rope was rigged from a ceiling beam (and, yes, we had a belay line for safety) and two prussik knots are tied around the fixed rope. One prussik knot is hooked up to the front of your harness (refer to E and G in the diagram) and the other knot is attached to a loop of webbing for a foothold. You put your weight into the foothold and loosen the top prussik knot enough to slide it up the rope as far as you can reach. Sit back into your harness and let that knot tighten so it holds your weight. Then you loosen the prussik for the foothold and slide that up. Put your weight into the foothold, grab the rope above the top knot and pull yourself upward, then and repeat the entire process, scooching your way up the rope.
Confined space was fun, too. After we got our good scare over the potential dangers of confined spaces (entrapment, engulfment, asphyxiation, etc) in lecture, we got our gloves, eye protection and helmets (and if you were smart, a flashlight or head lamp) and trooped out to the tower. We broke up into teams of two and started the little rat maze beneath the building. It starts out large enough to crawl and your hands and knees, maybe sit upright a bit (or maybe that's just the dwarves like me). My partner Chris (yes, you know him, KT) was taller so maybe he had a slightly harder time. We crawl through the tunnel to a dead-end, turn around and go back the way we came. Then we move into another tunnel, a little smaller, with cold, muddy water pooled on the floor.
My headlamp would have been a useful tool if it had stayed on my helmet. The tunnel abruptly ends, coming out into the parking lot, and from there we circle around to the other side of the building and re-enter the tunnels. Much smaller now, more water, and now the narrow diameter of the tunnels has slowed down some of the larger guys. If you were claustrophobic, that would have been the time to have a panic attack, because we were so backed up that there was someone in front of your, with their boots sticking in your face, and someone behind you who couldn't go backwards either. If you were, er, larger, you were belly crawling by that point. For once in my life, I was glad I was small. I stayed on my hands and knees mostly. There was a pit about halfway through the tunnel, filled with deep, muddy water and brown sludge that had to be carefully forded on a narrow plank. If you fell in...I would probably have laughed. We were already filthy anyway!
The tunnel was longer than I had expected, and it was nice to finally see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I scrambled out of the tunnel's exit, falling forward like the klutz I am and surveyed the damage. Mud splatters all up my knees and boots that would very soon be mud-encrusted. Darn. I had just polished them, too.
Two of my classmates stationed themselves outside the tunnel to assist, none too gently, some of the other guys out by grabbing their arms and pulling until their victim shot out of the tunnel like a cannonball. If they came out too fast...sorry, but you're getting a face full of dirt. It was pretty funny observing our group in the aftermath. Dirty...really dirty. :) But the overall consensus was that it had been an awesome day.
1 comment:
It's great to hear what you've been up to. The class sounds like so much fun!
CJ
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