Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Essential Climbing Knots

climbing.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 151 posts

Re: Essential Climbing Knots

#101

Post by burkaman »

jfindley wrote: post #67
gumby wrote: post #27

Note that the monkey’s fist is an illegal knot everywhere in Australia and you can go to jail just for tying one.

This is [k]not true. You'll often find these at wharves in Australia. They can be viewed as an offensive weapon, so an aggravating factor in an assault (which is probably where the misunderstanding comes from), but the knot itself is perfectly legal and used by sailors as the weighted end of a heaving line.

In fact, sailors are required to use a monkey's fist in some cases under Australia federal law: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L01173

The knot does not appear in the list of prohibited weapons: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018Q00081

Re: Essential Climbing Knots

#102

Post by jvanderbot »

Don't tie a prussick that way. Do exactly what they say, but pull a loop so that the knot is not out on the load bearing part, but instead tucked by the main line.

Otherwise it'll snag and cut itself or catch your carabiner and cause all kinds of shock loads. (source is search and rescue training)

Ashley's is a great ref, but there's tricks to the trades so check a variety of sources.

Re: Essential Climbing Knots

#103

Post by SamBam »

Is there a good knot resource that helps you start from "I need to..."?

e.g. "I need to make a loop that doesn't slip." "I need to tie two ropes of different widths together." etc.

I know most knot books and sites do tell you the purpose of a knot, but I often find their organization doesn't easily lead me to the answer.

Re: Essential Climbing Knots

#105

Post by jesterpm »

SamBam wrote: post #103

Is there a good knot resource that helps you start from "I need to..."? e.g. "I need to make a loop that doesn't slip." "I need to tie two ropes of different widths together." etc. I know most knot books and sites do tell you the purpose of a knot, but I often find their organization doesn't easily lead me to the answer.

The book I learned from suggested five types of knots for different problems and suggested learning one of type, which I found to be a great starting point.

The five were: a stopper knot, to keep a line from pulling through something, a fixed loop, a running loop, a hitch (attach a line to a thing), and a bend (attach a rope to a rope).

My go-to knots were a figure 8, bowline, running bowline, clove hitch, and sheet bend respectively.

Re: Essential Climbing Knots

#106

Post by hprotagonist »

ct0 wrote: post #89
hprotagonist wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in the american northeast, backup knots on a figure 8 are relatively common in gyms and rare at the crag. (and when you do see them at the crag, they're a good gumby detector) About 5-6 years ago the gyms became much more honest in their instruction for new climbers, and will now actually say the quiet part out loud, which is that a backup knot is really there to 1. ensure that new climbers leave enough of a tail on…

Ive also always been in the the camp that this "backup" knot isn't backing up anything. If you want to finish the knot, the correct way to do it would be a Yosemite finish.

Yep, that works well.

The balancing act the gyms, in particular, are trying to play is that knots should be both secure and easily verifiable on sight by gym staff, more or less entirely for liability reasons. A yosemite finish, or a bowline, are both dead-ass safe and in some cases better than a traced eight, but they're harder to glance at and know they're safe. That's totally fine at the crag, but it's a liability issue at the gym.

Re: Essential Climbing Knots

#109

Post by hpaavola »

dmos62 wrote: post #108
hpaavola wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are free to discuss about books as you wish, but books are not knots.

Is banning a book more civilized than banning a knot?

I have no idea why are you talking about books in a thread about knots. Feel free to talk about books as much as you wish, but it sure would be more beneficial to do it somewhere else.

Re: Essential Climbing Knots

#110

Post by scarecrowbob »

dncornholio wrote: post #80

I did a lot of bouldering and wanted to start doing lead climbing, until I learned that there's no independent certification for ropes.

Well, there is the UIAA, CE and CN.... but even if that weren't the general issues with rope are it being cut due to rockfall (which I have experienced and been terrified by) or due to repeatedly grinding over an edge.

The ropes in climbing are way safer than many aspects of the sport.

The thing that gives me pause over the last couple of years has been wondering about how picky I should be about partners.

Human error seems like the most dangerous part of the sport to me.

Post reply on HN