Front	Rear

Technical Details

I acquired my Rescue Technology Escape from Rescue Technology in 2009.

This Rescue Technology Escape is 101 mm. tall, 68 mm. wide, 10 mm. thick, and weighs 98 g. The plate has six 12.1 mm. rope holes and a 19.9 mm. eye. The rope holes are in three rows on 22.6 mm. centers. The holes in the top row are on 36 mm. centers, in the second 25.6, and in the third 22.0. All holes, including the eye, have rounded edges, as does the outer rim of the plate.

One side is marked with "RESCUE TECHNOLOGY," "ESCAPE," and "MBS 22kN Ø7.5-10MM •."

Comments

The Rescue Technology Escape is a personal escape device (PED) sold for emergency use. The PED must be pre-rigged on the rope, which means that the user must either know exactly how far from the rigging point to rig it, or spend time positioning it before use. This is fine for the inexperienced, but a skilled user would probably prefer to use something else (e.g., a Munter hitch weighs less and is more flexible). When prerigging, be sure to take the following into consideration:

• The type of rope you will be using,
• Whether the rope will be wet or dry when the emergency occurs,
• Whether the rope will be clean or dirty when the emergency occurs,
• How far the lip will be from the anchor when the emergency occurs,
• How long the drop will be when the emergency occurs,
• How much you and your gear will weigh when the emergency occurs, and
• How hot the rope will be when the emergency occurs.
  

I find the PED marginally adequate for emergency use (in a true emergency, isn't just about anything?), but not as a preferred descender for normal use. Fortunately, I don't run into burning buildings to jump out the window, so I don't need to know how to use a PED for that. Don't misunderstand - I have nothing specific against this device, I just don't like using PEDs as primary descenders. My feelings are that the whole PED concept is not well conceived, and that is why most of the PEDs are poor performers.

Rescue Technology does not mention this, but I this PED makes a very good anchor brake. I would use it much like I would use the Stubai Klettersteigbremse or the AustriAlpin. Of course, I once saw the latter sold as a PED, and that made me cringe.