Gear reviews | Mammut RescYou

Tester and test conditions

I'm 23 and have been ski touring for 5 years, but until recently I was new to alpine touring. However, I have been able to use the RescYou regularly over the last few months. I've tested it in the climbing gym, on the rock, in the shared flat, and the last few weeks also in snow and ice. Note: No crevasses were damaged during the test, the emergency was simulated as realistically as possible.

First impression

The RescYou comes in a sturdy little bag that can be attached to the harness with a mini carabiner. Unfortunately, this does not fit on every climbing harness, as the loop diameter is sometimes too large due to the plastic protection on the harness. Not so bad, it is more important to also secure the large carabiner to the harness. On the one hand, the device won't dangle so low and the risk of losing it is averted.
A small side pocket contains a water-repellent instruction manual that clearly illustrates how to use the device. The device itself is relatively light and handy. It consists of two rope clamps connected by a 6 to 1 pulley. The individual parts make a very high-quality and robust impression. Overall, the device weighs 400 grams and is therefore only slightly heavier than a set of carabiners or individual rope clamps.

The operation is fairly simple and intuitive. Everyone I gave the RescYou to try out was quickly familiar with how it works and was able to pull up someone who had fallen. If a member of the rope team falls into the crevasse, the device is ready for use very quickly, which is an advantage over conventional systems.

Crack fall! What now?

In the best case scenario, the colleague was roped up and the fall could be held. Once you have built a solid anchor, the question arises as to how to get the person who has fallen back into the daylight. With the Mammut RescYou, this is very easy. First of all, the carabiner with the first rope clamp is hooked into the sling of the anchor. Then the first rope clamp is hooked into the taut rope. By pulling out the pulley, the second rope clamp can be pushed forward on the rope and blocked. By pulling on the cord of the RescYous, the rope on which the victim is hanging can now be pulled in with ease until the clamps are at the stop again.

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The two cable clamps touch each other. — The two rope clamps collide with each other.

Adrian Sauter

Parc National des Ecrins

After this, do not forget to pull the rope through the second clamp manually to block it, otherwise you will lose the centimetres gained when releasing the first rope clamp. When this clamp is released, the tension is transferred to the main rope and some of the rope gained is lost, partly due to the rope stretching. You should make sure that the rope is always fully pulled on, otherwise both the person who has fallen and the anchor will experience a small jolt each time the clamp is released. The process of pulling the pulley in and out is repeated until the victim has been rescued from the crevasse. It is also possible to pull up over brake knots or climb up yourself and there is no need to unload the rope. Even if you want to give some rope again, it is possible to abseil back down step by step in an emergency. This is very practical if you have pulled the fallen person too far into the edge of the crevasse and want to create some space for yourself.

The pulley itself has a 6:1 ratio and cannot be reduced in size. This means that you always have to pull 6m of rope to pull in 1m of rope. However, the effort required is also a sixth less and so you can also pull a fainting person out of the crevasse with a sack and pack. The high gear ratio was particularly well received by female testers. A 3:1 pull is certainly sufficient for some situations, but the effort required is then significantly greater and an extension requires a little more prior knowledge.

The 3.5 mm thick, orange pull rope can withstand a lot and produces virtually no stretch under load. When pulling it in, it happened once that the orange pull rope twisted so much that it no longer ran cleanly through the rollers. The result was time-consuming untangling. You can prevent this by always wrapping the device carefully and winding up the line. The best way to do this is to pull the two rope clamps as close together as possible and then wind the entire rope around them. During continuous operation, we also noticed that the pulleys generate a relatively high level of friction. This makes the process unnecessarily difficult, especially when pulling apart, as you have to use one hand to help. The sliding handle can also only be locked with both hands, as the cord must first be wound around two grooves. A little time-consuming, but the handle then holds well and lies comfortably in the hand. Some do without the handle altogether and pull directly on the line, which also works. Another plus point is that the RescYou can be operated without any problems even when wearing thick gloves.

Conclusion

Am I able to set up a functioning pulley system in an emergency? Without practice, this is not so easy in a stressful situation. The device makes precise knowledge of how to set up a pulley system superfluous. In my opinion, this is an advantage for people who don't want to or can't spend much time on the subject. However, you are also dependent on the functionality of the device and may look stupid if it fails. You also can't react depending on the situation and only have this one rescue method available through the RescYou. But it works really well. The Mammut RescYou is ready for use quickly and without much thought. It is robust and you can't go far wrong with either self-rescue or rescue by others. Brake knots are no longer a problem and overall the handling is very good. In an emergency, you are definitely well served with the RescYou.

Advantages & disadvantages

+Light and compact
+Mostly good workmanship
+Quickly ready for use
+Intuitive operation
-Almost exclusively suitable for crevasse rescue
-Lengthy, other systems are sometimes more effective
-Additional knowledge is superfluous