Helix Personal Escape System (PES)

A modular, lightweight and low volume micro rope system that gives users the capability to quickly descend or egress from a position.

In detail

The Helix Personal Escape System is a modular, lightweight and low volume micro rope system that gives users the capability to quickly descend or egress from a position. The system can be used for both personal descent, and to lower a single operator or load. This system has been specifically designed for military, law enforcement and emergency personnel to perform an emergency escape across all environments and operational theatres. The system has been designed for fast deployment, intuitive to use and have minimal training burden.

The system contains the necessary equipment to do the following: 
  • Construct anchor points in a wide number of environments using a minimal amount of equipment. 
  • Protect the rope from damage. 
  • Descend or lower personnel up to 23m.
  • Ascend the rope.
The descender and rope have been certified to EN341:2011/2D European standard for descent systems and ANSI Z359.4-2013 American standard for fall protection and fall restraint and has also passed additional, harsher testing that simulated worse case scenarios with heavily laden operators.

Standard lengths include a 10m training system, 23m, 50m and 100m. Bespoke lengths are available. 

System Components

  • Protecttion Wind Escapattor
  • CTOMS Quickie Ascender
  • SuperFabric Rope Protector
  • Sterling Lightning GT Rescue Hook
  • Petzl Foot Tape
  • Phantom
  • Aramid Sling

 Product Name Product Code Colour NSN Code
10m Helix PES Training System HPES10KIT-TRAIN Red
23m Helix PES System – Ascent & Rigging HPES23KIT-ASC/RIG Black
23m Helix PES Descent System HPES23KIT-DES Black
23m HPES 2 Molle Pouch System Descent/Ascent & Rig HPES23KIT-FULL Black
50m Helix PES Descent System HPES50KIT-DES Black
PES Escapator Black -Descender with 23m of 5mm of Aramid rope TTWE23M-BLK Black 8465-99-513-0141
PES Escapator Black Descender PTWE-BLK Black 8465-99-287-3547
PES MultiCam Molle Pouch PES-MOL-D MultiCam 8465-99-490-6248
PES Rope Protector with XSRE Matt Grey carabiner FRVROPEP50 Black
PES Escapator Red Descender with 10m of 5mm of Aramid rope TTWE10M-RED Red 8465-99-861-9834
PES Escapator Red Descender PTWE-RD Red 8465-99-984-8988

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Features

System contains a pre-rigged descent/lowering system. This uses 23m of 5.5mm heat resistant aramid rope with a rigging carabiner, a rope protector and an auto-locking, load limiting rope controller all attached and ready to deploy.

A 50cm long rope protector that uses multiple layers of SuperFabric and Cordura to create a tube that wraps around the rope via a velcro closure. The rope protector is tied to the rope by a thin length of cord that is tied in a French Prusik allowing the rope protector to be moved easily up and down the rope and then locked into place at the desired position. The French Prusik is tied back using the XSRE mini carabiner.

Helix Operations is authorised to offer training on the HPES system. First students can train on Helix Egress System as an operator on a one day course. Following this, you may progress to the instructor course to train experienced individuals as identified by the parent organisation to deliver instruction in the use of the Helix Personal Egress system; to include Working at Height regulations in training, system components, tolerances and parameters, anchor selection/rigging, the systems use in descent and ascent. and its use in a buddy rescue.

In each of the HPES Kits these items are included:

1. The HPES is a micro egress system that is very intuitive, simple to use even in adverse conditions, fast to deploy, auto-locking and load limiting. It also has minimal training burden.

2. A 50cm long rope protector that uses multiple layers of SuperFabric and Cordura to create a tube that wraps around the rope via a velcro closure. The rope protector is tied
to the rope by a thin length of cord that is tied in a French Prusik allowing the rope protector to be moved easily up and down the rope and then locked into place at the desired position.

3. The Phantom is our lightest locking carabiner at just 42 grams. Despite its minimal weight, we have ensured that it is still usable in all situations - with gloves, in the wet
and the cold. It is also strong across every axis (24kN major axis and 9kN minor axis) and has a clean nose that prevents snagging. The locker to carry when every gram counts. Very
light, very strong and very useable.

4. Narrow Cutter Steel Safety Blade to remove protective vacuum pack.

5. XSRE carabiner for the prusik: This carabiner is manufactured in exactly the same way as the full strength DMM carabiners, each XSRE carabiner back is hot forged using aircraft grade aluminium, heat treated and built up with a machined gate. The French Prusik is tied back using the XSRE mini carabiner.

6. The QA is a micro ascender that works well with the HPES rope and is unique in that it incorporates force reduction into the system through slippage at a specific force window.

7. Weighing less than 227g, the Sterling Lightning Hooks are the lightest certified rescue anchor hooks available on the market. The hook is certified to NFPA 1983, 2012 edition Escape Anchor and rated to 13.5kN. The Lightning GT features an innovative wiregate for ease of connection to a remote anchor. This unique design eliminates the challenge of threading the rope through the hitching slot in a low-visibilty situation and therefore providing the fastest, most secure remote anchor solution.

8. The adjustable Petzl Foot Tape for rope ascents. Can be used with the CTOMS Quickie Ascender or Petzl Ascension handled rope clamp. A height adjustable elastic keeps the foot in the loop, regardless of the shoe type. The Underfoot strap is abrasion-resistant and is slightly rigid to make it easier to step into. A double back buckle effectively adjusts the length of the foot loop. Supplied with a DMM Phantom Screwgate carabiner to attach it to the QA ascender.

9. Sewn sling made of high-strength aramid delivering a significantly higher breaking strength than conventional slings. Sewn sling using an aramid core delivering significantly higher breaking strengths than conventional nylon or polyester slings together with better heat, abrasion and cut resistance.

10. MultiCam Molle Pouch - 1 Bead Marker. The system can be supplied packed in several formats; these include vacuum packing and pre-packing into a custom Molle pouch. The
pouch being available in Multicam or Black as required.