Rappelling with only one arm
I'm working on a novel. The main character recently (six months ago) lost her arm above the elbow. She's attending a summer camp, and I'm wondering if, with proper planning (and probably a mountain of release forms), it would be possible for her to join in on rappelling? Is there a way to tie the ropes, or some special equipment that would let her control the rope, either with just one hand, or using what's left of her other arm?
She's fourteen, if that matters, and the bluff being used is one the camp's been using for years.
Edit: I've read Rappelling with an injured arm but felt it didn't answer my question for two reasons:
1) My main character, strictly speaking, is no longer injured. She's had time to recover from the car crash and is perfectly healthy, other than the fact that she's missing an arm.
2) More importantly, that scenario seems to be about what to do when you need to get down a rock cliff while injured. This being a planned activity, precautions can be made well ahead of time.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/21423. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 answers
Yes
If we assume that this is a summer camp setup where experienced (ish) instructors set up and oversee the rapell, sure.
A one-armed person would face two major difficulties. Setting up the rapell (is tying knots and loading rope into brakes/rapell devices) and handling the brake during the actual rapell.
On a summer camp, I assume that the kids wouldn't be trusted to set up a rapell by themselves anyway, so that is not a problem for your story.
As for the actual rapell, a one-armed person would have trouble handling a more advanced assisted-braking type device (where you would need one hand to control the device and another to hold the rope). A simpler device (tube style or figure eight) however would work just fine.
Usually, while rapelling, you attach a prussik loop to the rope as a backup, which would be manageble (once set up by an instructor) with one hand. However, if I was the instructor here, I would use what is called a "firemans belay". That is simply someone standing at the bottom holding the ropes being ready to pull on them (engaging the brake) if the rapelling kid loses control.
Additionally, a chest harness with a carabiner clipped to the rope might be a good idea, helping to keep the rapelling kid upright.
Another option would be for an instructor to rapell with the kid. Both hanging from slings connected to the same rapell device. That is how you do it when you have to bring an injured climber down from a cliff.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/21426. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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I've done it with a broken arm in plaster, but that was nearly 30 years ago when I was a similar age to your character. We always used figure of 8 descenders in those days and had a safety belayer with a second rope (standard practice for kids). In this case I believe the instructor/belayer was at the top. My immobilised arm (in a cast from bicep to palm) was useless even for things like fastening the harness so I needed a bit of extra assistance getting set up.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/21427. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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