http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/09/makeshift_challenge_save_a_man.html

This seems like an interesting puzzle that may be of interest to some of the readers of this forum. I'll give it some more thought, but on initial reading, I don't have a clue.

The victim must remain for the present in a poisonous atmosphere. You must create a atmospheric liferaft, a 'oxygen tent.' You have a two man tent to start <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Yeah I'd say it's pretty hopeless except in TV-land.

Obviously you could shuttle fresh air to him in a water container or the air mattress, but it's labor intensive and neither of those really have much air capacity. I supposed you could build air tubing out of the mattress and duct tape, maybe even with an exhale valve. That's probably why you have a whole 25 feet of duct tape.

But the technical rescue seems overwhelming. For the typical "think outside the box" puzzle like this, you're supposed to flood the location and float the victim to the top. Since they mention the spring, that could be involved in their expected answer, but if it's really "minutes" away, transporting the water is impractical.

Or since you have exactly 40' of rope for a 20' lift and you weigh half of the load, you could rig a simple block and tackle to give you a 2-to-1 advantage and use your weight (plus some water weight to overcome friction) as a counter-weight to lift the victim. I can even picture the TV close-ups of the rope fraying or coming untied and keeping us in suspense. Will he make it in time?

You can't use water to float him out for at least two reasons: when sulfur dioxide gas mixes with water, it creates sulfuric acid; and the same fissures that let the gas in will probably let the water out.

If the air mattress is the kind that you would actuallly pump air into, fill it up. Turn the tent into a sling with the rope and drop it down, telling the man to crawl into it. Then drop the air mattress to him and tell him to inhale from the air mattress and exhale outside it.

But since the guy is twice your weight, I have no idea how to get him out of the hole by yourself. Running back down the trail, screaming, could be an option. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Sue

How about creating a hot air balloon out of the tent / mattress and fly him out of the hole? You can use the stove to heat the air. Rope to attach to the balloon. I don't know if it will work but at least that is what McGuyver might do.

It's easy.
The atmosphere is not 100% toxic. If it would he would be dead.
Cut off 10' of rope.
Tie yourself into a rope harness. retain the surplus rope rope for a french prussick.
Inflate the mattress. That's your supplementary air supply. Break the bamboo pole in half. One half is for a splint. Securely anchor the rope.
Taking the mattress, first aid kit and bandanna with you, climb down.
Stablise and splint the leg.
Apply a touniquet if needed. It may devolve down to his leg or his life.
Tie your french prussik into the rope.
Tie the victim's hands together and get him on your back.
Taking your time, climb up the rope. The french prussick will grip the rope and allow you to rest.
When you get to the top, apply any needed first aid.
Shelter the victim in the tent.
Go for help.

(I edited this to add that this is not a reply to Leigh directly. Didn't there used to be a reply to all choice?)

I look forward to finding out what the "real" answer is. One of the biggest problems I see is that it says the victim/patient is going into shock, which means he's going to be next to useless as far as helping in any way. I originally thought about using the water bladder on the end of the rope to get him temprorary air, but that would have to be done so frequently it wouldn't leave much time to do anything else. Since the challenge is to get him out. or stabilize him until you can get help there (which would be 12 hours minimum), it has to be as Chris said, an "oxygen tent" or some way to haul someone that weighs twice what you do out. I'm sure there has to be some sort of MacGuyver like way to do the oxygen supply route.

I don't tihnk many people could haul somebody that weighed "easily twice your weight" out on their back, which would only leave some sort of block and tackle method. That would mean using a few trees, which always seemed a lot easier in the old books than it would be in reality. Either way, if you get him out of the hole, help is at least 12 hours away, so all you could do is keep him warm in the sleeping bag until you could get back.

This still leaves me thinking that the "oxygen tent" idea is the most plausible, but I have no idea how I would go about doing that.

So I agree with the people that say this is a TV situation, and could only really be done on TV. I have two questions though-
1. Where are the supplies of the fallen man?
2. Where is the paper clip? MacGuyver couldn't do this job without a paperclip. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

If the guy had fallen a few minutes or hours earlier, the rescuer wouldn't have even known he was there, and would have enjoyed a long soak, a night of camping, and a downhill hike home. How selfish of the fallen feller. <img src="/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />

What I basically described is a climbing technique used for getting your partner out of a hole. I did wonder why "you" have 40' of rope but no basic climbing kit. (harness, couple of micro ascenders etc).
It needs to be born in mind that moving him may kill him. Doing nothing will kill him. But that may well prove to be a case of tough titty as you have to be absolutly certain that you can escape the situation. Better he dies than you both die.

I was once told by a chap who was training me in the basics of mountain survival that if your being dragged over the edge by your best mate, you had better be prepared to cut the bloody rope. It's called the law of the mountain.