Snowdonia-Active News Item

Self Help for Climbers DVD
03/01/2007

You rarely consider as a climber being involved in a serious or potentially serious incident until it happens - a bit late then to start wishing you had watched the new 'Self Rescue For Climbers' DVD, while wondering if you should use a prusik or auto-block knot to help lower your injured partner to safety.

This comprehensive film with a running time of two hours will be available in the Spring. The film-makers Steve Long and Olly Sanders, both based in N.Wales, have over forty years of instructional experience between them. Steve is an International Mountain Guide and Olly has been responsible for the Rescue Department at Plas y Brenin.

What can potentially be a very dry subject in a text-book, undoubtedly benefits here from being viewed in the environment in which it is intended to be used for real. Filmed on location, mostly in North Wales, at Gogarth, Tremadog and in the Llanberis Pass, on routes from V.Diff to E2, the continually changing backdrop is crucial in keeping the viewers attention. Choosing an appropriate sound-bed for a such a film was always going to be difficult and hope that the choice of some of the music was a bit tongue-in-cheek.

The film is broken down into sections and chapters starting with the climbing basics of belaying, through to how best to avoid problems and then concentrates on giving you the tools to solve them if things do go awry. The final section looks at different scenarios using all the techniques covered.

There is too much to take-in at one sitting but the use of chapters allows you to easily pick-up where you left off or to return to something for a 'refresher'. Hopefully, you'll never need to use most of the information here but knowing you can get yourself out of trouble in a difficult situation will undoubtedly help any climber's confidence. In the current age of 'self-help' this is one DVD that climbers really should watch. The dizzying footage of abseiling off Malham will perversely probably attract quite a few takers, after they've mastered the technique of passing the knot of course!

As if the content packed main feature wasn't enough there are 25 mins of extras with the Holyhead Cliff Rescue Unit and gear-testing to destruction at the DMM factory in Llanberis. The conclusion to draw from these shorts is that a powered winch is a lot quicker than an improvised hoist and karabiners are very strong.

Pre-orders will be available on-line at www.rockandseaproductions.com

Topic: Self Rescue For Climbers DVD; Climbing Instructional Film; Rock Climbing in Snowdonia; Rock and Sea Productions.