Hi, I’ve booked into a self-rescue and problem solving course at Mile End on Sat the 26th. Anyone else interested in popping along, looks to be a couple of places spare according to the website?
https://www.mileendwall.org.uk/courses/detail/self-rescue-problem-solving
I’m doing a first aid course that weekend, but would love to know how you find it…
Cool, I will stick some notes on here afterwards about what they cover etc. and a little bit of feedback from the day.
The BMC first aid course sounded good if that is the one you are booked in for, I would have gone for that if I hadn’t spotted the self rescue poster in ME.
Well done going on this Mark.
I read partner rescue as much as self rescue in the skills being taught here. If you do adventurous climbing e.g. multi pitch , mountaineering, sea cliffs, etc. then please consider this course or one like it.
Finished the course this afternoon and it was really good, Martina was patient and gave plenty of examples of where you would use the techniques and any limitations. Ratio is 1-4 max, we had three on the day so lots of time for questions.
I would definitely recommend it to less experienced climbers along with the Libby Peter book. Great to try these things at the wall and not first time outside. You wouldn’t get the opportunity normally to practice them at height unless outdoors, but most peoples window for that is a bit limited.
Things we covered are below, apologies for the brain dump!
Sports anchor recap either using slings or the rope - useful as I haven’t done sports multi pitch before, just trad
Setting up direct belays with guide mode device including a few ways to lower:
1- A sneaky wiggle up/down of the blocking carabiner for small adjustments
2 - Medium adjustments using a third carabiner for leverage
3- A redirected sling larks footed to the blocking carabiner for big adjustments but with an Italian hitch safety backup
Two people abseiling from the same rope but different ends - coordination was tricky but should be faster with practice 
Italian hitch - for lead belay, direct belay for the second, abseiling with one and a quick mock up for trad style half ropes - very useful as it locks the opposite way you expect as it is with the brake hand up not down!
Ascending a rope using prusiks - first time I have tried this and it was quite fun.
Abseiling past a knot or joined rope - how to use prussiks and stay safe
Assisted hoist - dropping a loop of dead rope down and redirecting to the anchor so they can haul themselves in. This seemed really handy for helping a less strong second get past a crux section, definitely will use it in the future.
Unassisted hoist - how to rescue an unconscious second using prussiks. The most complicated and physically tiring section of the course. How to bring them up to you, make safe and then abseil with them attached to you. I hope I never have to do this as the blood clot time window is very small and it takes ages 
General problem solving - abseil dos and don’ts, trad specific adaptations and suggestions.
Sounds good thanks for the debrief Mark. I’d be keen to do this, I might ask Martina when she can do another…anyone else interested?
I’m interested
Hi Holly, it’s now one of the regular ME wall courses with more dates in the future on their website. Might be worth asking her about an NLMC specific one though if you can get 4 people to agree on a date?
Yep that’s what I was thinking
Sounds great - I did their multi pitch course with her last year and it was really useful, sounds like we covered a lot of the same stuff but more in a sport multi pitch context.
Would definitely be up for a practise session on hoists/other faff some time. Although not sure where you’d do it…
Deffo up for doing this! When is everyone free?
Sounds interesting - I know a fair few of these things already but a refresher course on those, plus covering new stuff, could be a wise use of an afternoon