text: 2013 BRS Wrapup: Another Successful Season! (and some close calls…) | cmcboulder
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  2013 BRS Wrapup: Another Successful Season! (and some close calls…)
  With the beautiful Indian summer weather in the last week of October, the Boulder Group's Basic Rock School came to a close. This fall there were 12 students who signed up, and 10 passed. Last spring, there were 31 students, of which 25 who successfully completed the course. Congratulations to the 2013 graduates, who are listed at the end of the article. All the best in your future climbing endeavors!
  My Fall BRS group climbed Seal Rock on Sunday, October 27, which included Don Byington and Keir Hart (assistant instructors), and Ulla Westerman and Jonathan Dunder, students. We have lots of pictures! You can view them here: Don's pictures Rick's pictures Jonathan's pictures
  One interesting story that I would like to relate involved a rappeling situation that happened on our descent. This was similar to Eileen Monyak's story in the September 2013 Compass about a rappel rescue she performed earlier that year in the same location.
  In our story, Don Byington, an assistant instructor, was the first to rappel off the 150 foot Seal Rock rappel; I was in communication with him via radio. Unbeknownst to Don (because it was not visible from the top), the gusty winds that had kicked up had carried one of the rope strands into a tree far off to the left, some 30 to 40 feet to the side, making it impossible to reach the ground. He was unable to free the rope by shaking it, and attempted to hand-over-hand in that direction, using his auto-block to rest, which proved exhausting. After communicating with me on top, we verified that (Thank God!) the knot that tied the two rappel ropes together was situated such that he could transfer to the single strand that was free, and complete the rappel on a single rope. This he accomplished by attaching himself to a temporary anchor with a cam in a crack while he re-rigged his rappel. The rest of the group waited anxiously on top during the slow minutes that passed until Don radioed back: he was on the ground, and had freed the other rope. Hooray!
  This illustrated several key factors that all BRS instructors might want to keep in mind: always send an instructor down first on a big rappel, radios really help, and if it is windy, consider "saddle-bagging" the rope strands in butterfly coils on either hip using a sling, which pay out as you rappel down. There is a good description of how to do this in the 2012 Accidents in North American Mountaineering , or in this article on the American Alpine Institute blog.
  –Rick Casey, BRS Director
  For 2013 Basic Rock School Instructors and Graduates, click below to read more!
  Eileen Monyok
  Slava Lototskyy
  Martina Sorek
  Kier Hart
  Belay Tower & Knot Test Assistants
  Kira Koger
  Congratulations to the 2013 Basic Rock School Graduates!
  Lea Kottmeyer
  Lil Sonntag
  Makan Tabrizi
  Linda Taipale
  Curtis Taipale
  Tags: 2013 Graduating Class, Basic Rock School, BRS Instructors, November 2013, Rick Casey, Seal Rock Rappel Incident
  This entry was posted on November 5, 2013 at 6:27 pm and is filed under CMC Basic Rock School, CMC Boulder Compass, CMC Domestic (CO) Boulder Group Trips.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.