I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of “Escape Kits”. Something about having the ability to sling yourself out a the 3rd story window and safely land on the ground just seems right.
As we were walking the floors of the SHOT show we had the opportunity to visit with the Blue Water Rope company’s founder and learn about the escape kit they developed for troops in Iraq.
Why it is what it is
Because the buildings in Iraq only had stairs going up the front they needed to find a way to “Bug Out” from the backside.
Blue Water designed the smallest kit possible. The rope used in this kit is about as small as the human hand can manage and it still has a tensile strength of 3000 pounds.
Complete with a special belay device allowing you to very the friction depending on weight and how fast you want to see your body move towards the earth, this kit can get you off just about any 5 – 6 story building in a hurry.
Not just for buildings
This kit is also deployed with SAR teams in the back country so that they can get down and up steep terrain and extend their search.
I often hike with ropes for this very same reason. Grabbing a kit like this can shave some serious weight off your ready kit and more importantly increase your capabilities while in the field.
(Featured image courtesy of rescuedirect.com)
