Originally Posted By: williamlatham
With the added gear of the last couple of posts I am quickly getting to a full rack of gear. From the OP my guess is that the rappel was not intended. That leads me to "I over estimated my abilities and got myself stuck on this ledge and there is a thunderstorm coming". That would probably require a full rack and multiple rappels. Bad place to get yourself into.

The other that I can think of is my hotel is on fire and I cannot get out, I am on the 5th floor. (saw this video on TV, "When vacations attack"). This would be 70 feet of 4-5mm line, pre-loaded on a descent device specifically made for it, swiss seat and a locking biner. Something like this

http://www.rescuetech1.com/rescuetechegressplus-frhook.aspx

You could certainly put a kit together based on a Munter hitch to a biner as well. Swiss seats work fine for the intended purpose. While I would love to have my harness, I will personally take the risk of the swiss seat, or even my instructor belt if that is all I had.

Regards,
Bill


It's more of a specialty equipment. Knowing how to use those hooks is a totally diffrent thing than other kinds of rappeling. If you do buy a 'escape' system, get one with a belay device which locks, so you can use both hands to get out.

But i doubt anyone would carry one of these, unless they are rescue workers.
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