Hosted by
Oregon High Desert Grotto & Glacier Cave Explorers.
and
Vertically Speaking
The NCRC Scholarship committee has unanimously has approved four scholarships at $200 each for the Regional weeklong SPAR training. NSS membership is required to receive the scholarship.
July 10th - Scholarship applications due
July 25th - Scholarship winners announced
Aug 25th - Training starts
Email [email protected] for a link to the application.
August 25 - 30 2020
Seminar Cost $425 Currrent NSS Member 10% cancelation fee - No refund for cancelations after July25, 2020
$450 Non - NSS Member
Registration Questions? email [email protected]
Cost: includes lodging
(camping), and meals. The NCRC Manual of
US Cave Rescue is available for purchase at the discounted rate of $40.00 each.
Class size is limited to 16 students
About
the Seminar
This is a customized, 5
day course that covers the curriculum in the NCRC’s 3 day Small Party Assisted
Rescue seminar, but with more time allotted for stations, and variations. We
will also include techniques drawn from
the NCRC curriculum, local techniques, and other SRT industries. This is an
intensive five-day introduction to cave rescue techniques that can be performed
by a party of six or less persons, using minimal gear normally carried on
caving trips. This course teaches students how to handle most problems that
arise while caving, including basic medical skills, assisting patients through
obstacles, helping persons who are stuck on rope, pick-offs, building and
operating improvised haul and lower systems, and how to prepare for and prevent
problems with limited equipment and personnel.
This
course is NOT about litter-based rescues or large operations. Our targeted audience is project / expedition
cavers, or rescue team members with caves in remote or inaccessible locations
where minimal gear techniques can be used by a small hasty team, traveling
light and fast. Course is rigging intensive, and students must be comfortable traveling
on rope without a 2nd rope belay. Students will be expected to study some material in advance so that the classroom sessions reinforce and elaborate on existing information. Skills will then be practiced on the PNW alpine caving tower, and then reinforced with 2 days of stations and scenarios in caves. The course will be demanding, with long days, but will provide participants with valuable skills that can be used to help themselves and others when they are needed most.
Formal class starts Tuesday August 25 in the afternoon following the entry skills check in, which is the Level 3 SRT test and knot test. Mechanical advantage workshops are also offered prior to the start of the class for those needing review.
Meals included for the duration of the seminar. beginning with the evening meal on the 25th and concluding with lunch on the 30th. The class will be dismissed from the field exercise.
Prerequisites
This is not a beginners’ class. For safety and class efficiency, all students will be required to demonstrate basic vertical skills before taking this course. Required skills, including knots, basic haul systems, and single rope techniques are described here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g9l3il6cru1xol8/SPARPNW_EntryPrepPkg%202018.pdf?dl=0 The rigging systems test will not be administered, but you should be familiar with these systems before your arrival, since we will be rigging them with minimal gear and in unfamiliar formats.
The entry test (knots
and SRT) will be conducted prior to the seminar on the afternoon of Tuesday between
2:00 PM and 10:00 pm. Any students not checked off by then will not be allowed
to participate in this seminar. For questions, contact Eddy Cartaya at [email protected] or
at 541-213-6257.
