The National Cave Rescue Operations and Management Seminar, commonly called simply the "Weeklong", is an intensive cave rescue and vertical rescue course divided into three levels. Each level runs the entire week and is a prerequisite for the following level. The three courses are generally taught concurrently at the "Weeklong", with three different groups of students and instructors remaining together throughout the week.
Level I assumes that you can get yourself safely up and down a rope and builds from there. It strives to make a good Team Member of the student.
Level II begins to teach leadership skills and intends to produce Team Leaders of the students. It also covers more advanced vertical techniques.
Level III introduces more of the Incident Command System, with it's necessary variations for cave rescue. This level seeks to prepare students to take higher management roles during a cave rescue and in preplanning for rescues. More advanced vertical rescue techniques and other special rescue problems (water problems, crevice rescue, small party rescue, etc.) are also addressed in Level III.
Each level generally consists of classroom activity in the morning, with a practical exercise each afternoon to reinforce the material presented in the morning lecture. All three levels come together at the end of the course to perform a large scale simulated cave rescue. The instructors set up the senario and observe for safety issues only. The students use the skills they have each learned fill all the roles needed to actually carry out the rescue operation.
Return to NCRC Home Page