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vRigger Learning Center

This also applies to cable, chain, and webbing.

Gear that is anchored includes anchors, rocks, trees, tripods, trucks, etc.

A "bight" is a simple loop in a rope that does not cross itself.

A "bend" is a knot that joins two ropes together. Bends can only be attached to the end of a rope.

A "hitch" is a type of knot that must be tied around another object.

"Descending devices" (e.g., ATCs, Brake Bar Racks, Figure 8s, Rescue 8s, etc) create friction as their primary purpose. The friction in descending devices is always considered when calculating forces.

The "Safety Factor" is the ratio between the gear's breaking strength and the maximum load applied to the gear (e.g., 5:1).

AZTEK Pulley System (copy/paste)

The AZTEK pulley system is a pre-rigged, mechanical advantage kit. It was developed and refined by Reed Thorne of Ropes That Rescue. The name AZTEK is a mnemonic for Arizona Technician's Edge Kit.

At its core, the AZTEK system is comprised of two double-pulleys with integrated Prusiks. The specific components in the system vary based on the distributer (i.e., CMC Rescue, Rock Exotica, Sterling Rope, etc), but the common elements are the two Rock Exotica AZTEK pulleys which have side-beckets and an attachment point for the Prusiks.

Assembling an AZTEK system in vRigger is a little challenging, just as assembling the actual system is a little challenging. The easiest way to use the AZTEK system in vRigger is to copy and paste the system as explained on this page. Or you can learn how to assemble the AZTEK using the individual components.

  1. Download and open the Aztek.rig sample file. The sample file has several configurations of the AZTEK system.

(The Aztek.rig file should also be in the Documents\vRigger folder on your computer, although the downloadable sample file may be more up-to-date.)

  1. Click and drag your mouse to select the components in the AZTEK system you want. In this example, we chose to include the main items and did not select the carabiners, anchors, or loads.

    It is important that the selection includes both pulleys, the tiny "eye" that is attached to the becket on one of the pulleys (which will get selected when you drag-select the pulleys) and the tail of the rope.
  1. Use the Copy command on the Home toolbar to copy the selected gear onto the clipboard.
  1. Use the Paste command to paste the AZTEK gear into your rigging system.
  1. This is what you should see after pasting the system.

Note that one end of the rope is attached to a pulley (the blue pulley in this example) with a tiny rope eye. When you drag this pulley, hold the Ctrl key pressed so the eye will also get dragged. Learn about dragging connected gear.

  1. Refine the system.

    The AZTEK system is often rigged with the tail of the rope anchored, a personal Purcell Prusik, lanyard carabiners, etc. The following illustration shows some of those possibilities. (We used slack points and changed the drawing order to polish the appearance of this rigging system.)

Learn how to manually assemble the AZTEK system in vRigger.