RMRG owns and operates a 35 ft. test tower. This allows for both static and dynamic testing with drop mass up to 1000 lbs. We have developed protocols for drop load testing and abrasion testing. The test tower is equipped with a high speed data acquisition system including two load cell strain gauges. Some of our results:

We performed an extensive investigation of a June 22, 2010 climbing accident fatality in Eldorado Canyon caused by a climbing rope failure, Yellow Spur Rope Failure Investigation.

Three of our members published some of our results, "On the Utility of Rescue Randy Mannequins in Rescue Systems Drop Testing" (700 KB, 18 pages) at the 2009 International Technical Rescue Symposium (ITRS).

RMRG acknowledges Honeywell/Sensotec and National Instruments for their generous support of our research activities. National Instruments' web site features a case study of RMRG's application of National Instruments' products.

In the course of our relationship with National Instruments, we prepared RMRG Equipment Testing Program and Test Tower Facility (15pp, 3 MB PDF), a historical summary through 2007 of some of our rope and radio direction finding testing efforts.

Questions about our test tower program can be addressed to our test tower chair at