UKC

HAve a look at this, it's important and worth reading:-

http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1417010#1417010

Cheers

Andy

In reply to andy kirkpatrick:

Dear Andy

Maybe for you, but I've not learned a new knot since I left the Boy Scouts over 40 years ago. So I'm not into dodgy new age knots.

Norrie

In reply to Norrie Muir:

Norrie, I'm not sure an overhand (double or otherwise) counts as a "dodgy new age knot" - probably the oldest knot known to man!

In reply to Norrie Muir:

Norrie, what knot do you use for tying two iced up ropes for abseiling, I am sure people are interested?

In reply to Glen: So AK's DOUBLE overhand knot is still safest?

In reply to sutty:


Norrie never abseils, Sutty. He either runs or jumps back down.

In reply to sutty:

One doesn't abseil down iced-up ropes. One glissades ...

I'm speaking from complete inxeperience of course. The nearest that I ever came to iced-up ropes was when I worked at ASDA and had to be rescued from the deep freeze room, after falling into a crate of fish fingers.

In reply to sutty:

Dear sutty

A double fishermans, with the tails tied in a clove hitch. I've never had any problem that way, stong fingers untie it no bother.

Norrie

In reply to Clauso: Omigod! I said there was something 'fishy' about the rope you handed me (to abseil from the the top of that route at Glendalough). I got to the bottom with frostbitten hands and smelling like Cap'n Birdseye...

In reply to Norrie Muir:

Thanks, so you rarely have problems with ropes jamming either using double fishermans?
In thirty years regular climbing I only had one jam, descending the Plan in 61. Maybe I will stick with it.

In reply to sutty: 1961 was 45 years ago, where did the 15 years disappear to?

In reply to sutty:

Dear sutty

Most of my serious abseils were done on a 300' rope, this was so I never had a knot to jam in the first place.

When I changed to two ropes, I never got the ropes jammed, I was either lucky or skillful.

Norrie

In reply to graeme alderson:

Looking after a sick wife and scratching for work when made redundant at 50.

In reply to sutty: sorry Sutty I should have remembered

In reply to andy kirkpatrick:
This topic has been done to death a bit.
There is (n my opinion) a much better article on needlesports which talks in much more depth about the problem with a figure of 8, and also has test data comparing the fig 8 to both single and double overhand knots, and also mentions a couple of alternatives, such as fishermans, and a rethreaded figure of 8 such that the live rope on one side runs parallel to the tail on the other side

A knot I use, but sometimes get funny looks from partners.