The RAT-SAR Team was back on the bluffs this past weekend for the second weekend of rope rescue operations training. We had a few new members with this being their first exposure to technical rescue. All in all, we've got a very solid team that's now responding to more missions in the Southeastern region.
yes......the dummy, basket, and rigging weighs North of 100lbs. We could've opted for a heavier dummy but we have to schlep this thing into the backcountry and/or caves or BOTH....so we can always add packs to the Stokes basket to increase the weight if need be.
Our whole rescue principle is based around single person loads, unlike firemen who base their systems on two-person loads (patient in basket and attendant riding the basket with patient). Our rescuers are climbers so we can use lighter gear and systems since we are only lifting a single-person load. Our attendants climb a line beside the basket on their own power. So, to expand on the previous comments, about 150 pounds is what we train with, but we round off everyone to 1 kN (225 pounds) when we're building safety factors into our systems.