UKC

I've been working on one handed knot tying.

The clove hitch is the foundation of the moves:
http://www.youtube.com/user/treeclimberjim#play/uploads/1/oPuY3XVMwO0

Sampling of others:
http://www.youtube.com/user/treeclimberjim#play/uploads/2/i_6VhBjA-Fo

The munter hitch with plenty of illustration and at a slower pace:
http://www.youtube.com/user/treeclimberjim#play/uploads/3/3R2bB1JBBDs

In reply to tabasco:

You've registered today to post links? (Which I haven't looked at.)

In reply to tabasco:

I've never really understood the one handed bowline thing, surely a three quarter fisherman's knot would be much easier to tie one handed in extremis?

In reply to petestack:

Tell me ...how do you make being a tit look so effortless,It must be all the practice.

Some people may just find the information usefull, we dont know it all like you seem to ;0)

In reply to tabasco:

TBH the only one handed knot which i think has any use is the clovehitch which is easy, once you have that just lock it off

In reply to tabasco: Nice one tabasco. This has enthused me to look at knots again. I have been on the same knots with no amendments to technique or use for years. Time to look afresh.

In reply to muppetfilter:

AFAIC, I don't. But I know you don't like me...


So is this the pot calling the kettle black or what? There's loads I don't know, but at least I can sleep!

In reply to tabasco:

Italian hitch and clove hitch are straightforward to tie one handed. In fact, I find the 'twist, clip' method far easier to remember than the 'make two little loops' methods.

Clove: twist, clip, twist clip
Italian: clip, twist, clip

In reply to tabasco:

One-handed knot-tying always struck me as more of a circus trick than a particularly relevant climbing skill, but well done anyway.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:


Nonsense.

I once had to tie a kleimheist one-handedly on the Diable Arrete to avoid abbing off the end of the rope. The other hand was occupied in holding the last 5 inches of rope very firmly to stop them going through my abseil device. The knot was tied using a thin sling as well, to add complications.

You may not need it often, but when you need it, boy do you need to be able to do it slickly and composedly.

In reply to Simon4:


Surely that situation was avoidable?

In reply to tabasco:

There's also a simpler way to do the clove hitch and Italian hitch on a hanging karb one handed. Very useful at the anchor.

Italian hitch
1. Clip the rope onto the karb as you'd clip a runner. Say the gate opens on your right and you're using your right hand to clip.
2. The rope behind the karb should be further to the gate than rope above. Hold the rope behind with your right thumb pointing down.
3.Bring the back rope over the front rope and clip it into the gate with your thumb pointing up and towards yourself.

Clove hitch is the same as above, except in step 3 you do an extra twist and clip the rope with your thumb pointing up and away from yourself.

With this method you need only two fingers to do the two knots. It's the quickest way and can be done with big mitts. It works with the gate pointing either way and with either hands.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:


So what happens if you are soloing without a harness and then need a toprope?

In reply to Dave Garnett:


That is a bad sketch, and one that rarely occrs. I would suggest that prevention is the best cure in this instance.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead: while on a glenmore lodge winter climbing course, i was shown one handed clove hitch tying as it was so useful.

also, one handed knot tying would be a vital skill for all the one handed climbers out there

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Get your rescuer to tie a body-sized loop in the rope before he drops it to you.

Chris

In reply:

I used to practice the clove hitch by putting a draw on my door handle and tying the rope to it.

Have to say though, i've not had to use it outdoors yet!

In reply to ray:

I hope they showed you the easy way instead of the fiddly way shown in the video?

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Then you've made a grave error in judgement.

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:


Never had to tie off a thread one handed ? Much more awkward than it sounds !

In reply to Oceanic: A one handed bowline is fairly easy, but just try tying a one handed figure of eight, Satans knot.

In reply to timjones: yes, the idea was that you could tie the clove hitch into a krab on the belay with one hand, it is a quick and easy way to attach yerself. the way of tying it on the video seems very fiddly and of limited use.

In reply to Al Evans:

The devil gets all the best knots

In reply to Dave Morrison:

True, and an even worse one if when some kind person throws you a rope you can't then tie into it because you can't let go with both hands.

Like most emergency measures, obviously you hope you'll never need it.

In reply to Al Evans:
Bizarrely the easiest way to tie a one handed 8 seems to be the 'thrown 8' trick I think there is a video of how to do it on youtube somewhere. I really wouldn't want to have to try it in an emergency though.

In reply to Al Evans: My Dad taught me the one handed bowline 45 years ago, (I'd like to think he'd learnt it from Claude Frankland 40 years earlier, who was Dad's headmaster, though Dad was never a climber.) I taught it to my kids this weekend when we managed to go climbing with just one harness between 3 - doh!

I've been grateful for it a few times e.g. when ropes jammed and I had to untie and retie, on a boat, or on an Alpine route which we were soloing that suddenly turned nasty - obviously it would have been better not getting into a scrape in the first place, but second best was being able to deal with it when I was.