From the article at http://www.vcstar.com/rescue/

Quote:
...Van Sciver, in the next SAR wave with Mike Weber and David Musgrove, brought up two 200-foot ropes and gear for more anchors. Weber was struck by the four hikers' condition.

"They almost appeared to have given up," he said. "Seeing them really hit home that we were dealing with a very serious situation."

Crews built a 15-stick "change-of-direction" anchor — designed to limit fall in case the two anchors over by the hikers gave out — at the edge of where the rock slope ended and the lusher ravine began. Farther east, in the ravine, they built a 40-stick main anchor — the only bomb-proof one in the bunch.

The rappel line ran from the main anchor to the road below.

Van Sciver crossed the Class 4 traverse and brought gear and one end of what became the clothesline rope to Hartigan and the hikers...


That's remarkable to me. I'm not a climber, so that seems like the rescuers engineered a new rope system on the spot in harsh conditions.

To the climbers out there, can you tell me if the rescuers did something you can learn beforehand or if the rescuers mostly improvised on the spot?
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