Knots

From CanyonWiki

Every canyoneer should at least know how to tie his or her own shoes.

(Actually, knowing how to tie your shoes is superfluous if you have five.ten canyoneers.)

Contents 1 An Incomplete Table of Useful Canyoneering Knots 2 Tying Two Ropes Together 2.1 Studies of Knots Used to Tie Two Ropes Together 2.1.1 Linking Webbing Together 3 Links Describing Useful Canyoneering Knots [edit] An Incomplete Table of Useful Canyoneering Knots Loops Figure 8 follow through Figure 8 on a bight Figure 8 in-line Figure 8 double bight Overhand knot on a bight Bowline Butterfly Stein knot Hitches Clove Hitch Girth Hitch Munter Hitch Sling Hitch Ascending Prussik Klemheist Bachman Webbing Water knot Beer knot Etriers Y knot Bends Double fisherman Euro Death Knot Dogvine

[edit] Tying Two Ropes Together

Any time the rappel distance is longer than half a rope length, the canyoneer will need to join two ropes together to successfully rappel and retrieve the rope. There are three basic knots that can be used to tie two ropes together.

• Euro Death Knot (EDK) - This is a simple, one-sided overhand knot with long tails. The advantage is that the knot is flat on one side. This means that it will slide over the canyon lip easier with less chance of getting stuck. The name derives from its mundane appearance and its tendency to roll when weighted. Thus, this knot must be set with long tails or a lock off knot.
  • Two ropes can also be joined with a one sided Figure 8 in a similar fashion, but this knot must not be used as it rolls very easily. Unlike the one-sided overhand knot, the one sided Figure 8 does not tighten as it rolls. See Rock and Ice for accident report regarding this knot.

• Double Fisherman - This is a very simple knot that is strong, bulky and often difficult to untie. It has lost popularity to the EDK recently.

• Square Knot with grapevines - A simple knot that is strong, bulky and easy to untie. It is the most likely to snag on the rock, but the easiest to untie.

• The Double T Fisherman or flat fisherman is an interesting knot. It is flat and should retrieve like the EDK, but be strong like a double fisherman. There is some nice data on the linked website, but this relatively new knot has not yet become commonly used in canyoneering, mountaineering or rock climing.

[edit] Studies of Knots Used to Tie Two Ropes Together

• Tom Moyer's Testing Page
  • Evaluating the EDK, Figure 8 and Double Fisherman
  • Evaluating the Water knot
  • Sling evaluation
• Evaluating Strength of Water, Double Fisherman, Overhand, Rethreaded Figure 8, Abnormal Figure 8 and Alpine Butterfly
• Strength of Double Overhand on Itself
• Life on a Line - caver's guide book in pdf contains info on knot strength reduction
• Strength reduction with various knots

[edit] Linking Webbing Together

In general, one should avoid the temptation to girth hitch two strands of webbing together. This asymmetric knot results in up to 30% decreased strength in the webbing. Consider using the sling hitch, a carabineer or bringing some longer webbing.

[edit] Links Describing Useful Canyoneering Knots

General knots:

• Canyoning Knots at OZultimate.com Canyoning
• Prusik Knots
• Climbing knots at Chockstone
• Ed's page of useful climbing knots
• Diverse knots at Scoutxing.com
• Animated Climbing knots

Rope coiling‎:

• Butterfly coils at Gunks.com.
• Butterfly coils at Ozultimate.com.
• Double coil
• Daisy chain - useful for hooking, ascending and racking cord

Ascender knots:

• Standard ascender knots
• Carabiner ascender knots

Releasable knots:

• The Greasy Girth
• Janus anchor
• Six Exploding knots
• Highwayman's hitch
• Hobbit Releasable Knot
• Purcell - a knot like the prussik, only with double ropes. This is used to make adjustable tether anchors or adjustable foot loops for ascending.
• Macramé Knot
  • Macramé knots should be used with judgment. Rappelling on the pull line leads to knot failure and the rappeller falling. Multiple rappellers or a long rappel lead to over-tightening of the knot, difficulty releasing the knot and loss of rope. Thus, the rappel line should be secondarily secured for all but the last--and most experienced-- canyoneer, who will re-rig the line to weight the Macramé knot. Use extreme caution when tired. This knot is tricky to tie and mistakes are easily made. See ACA Forum and Cerberus Canyons for further discussion.
• Mexican releasable knot, or CEM - page in Spanish. Complicated knot. Same principles apply as with the Macramé knot: use with caution!

Setting systems for hauling:

• Various Z lines
• Hauling your buddy with a Z line

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