Hi! I am Ali from Fitclimb. We are at Point Defiance Park in Washington state. And today I am going to show you some basic survival in climbing knots. I am also going to demonstrate how to pack a backpack where basic backpacking in mountaineering equipment. So without doing further delay, let's get started.
So the first knot I am going to show you today is called the square knot and it's use to tie two ends of a rope together. I wouldn't trust it for climbing, but it works really well for shelter craft or for example to make your rope longer and also to tie down equipment.
To tie a square knot, I have got my two ends of my rope and I am going to go left over right first, loop through or you could go right over left, you just have to remember which side you were in, because then the second step, you are going to do the opposite which is right over left. I go make an overhand knot, so I basically made two overhand knot. Notice the two ends are both pointing in the same direction and I just tightened. To pull it apart, you pull 180 degrees from one end in the body and it just pops open and then you can just peel it open.
A slip knot is used in the case or a scenario where you want to have your rope tighten around an object like -- your rope around a piece of material or piece of an equipment and have it cinched down. So I have got my body and I have got the end of my rope. I am going to take my opposite hand, grab the line, twist it with an overhand loop, reach through the loop and grab the body and pull it tight. Now I have a line -- as you pull on one end, it cinches tight. In fact, if I had an object in there, it just tightens the more you pull, if there is nothing in there, it just opens up.
A clove hitch is used to tie around a object like a pole, a tree, a rock, a shovel you name it. The good thing about a clove hitch is, you can adjust the length of your rope, so it's easy to work with. So I am going to round my object, then I have the body of my line, I go underneath the body with the end of my line and I make an X, go round again and then you might have to pull to get some slack or just lift it up and take your end and go through the top line. Then cinch it tight and that's it. It's a clove hitch.
A bowline is used in a case where you need a fixed loop around an object. A fixed loop unlike a slip knot does not move. So to tie a bowline I start off with my slip knot and take the end of my rope and I go underneath through the loop of my slip knot and then grab onto the body of the rope and then cinch tight. You should hear a pop and that's where I have my fixed-loop.
One use of a bowline is to tie a fixed loop around an object that could be for shelter, align or even to repel off of. Normally, with the repel you would have a sling in a carabiner knot, it's much safer, but in an emergency situation, if you all you had was a rope, you can just tie a rope around a good anchor, make sure your anchor is really solid. We will talk about anchors later.
So first thing I am going to do is tie my slip knot, then I take the running end of the rope, go around my object and then that end comes through the loop just like before, grab onto the end and inside of the loop and just pull tight until it snaps. Make sure you have 2-3 inches of an end left over.
A figure eight is one of your most common climbing and mountaineering knots for tied into a rope system. It strong, it will hold most people if it's done right. Make sure you leave yourself enough line to work with. But what I am going to do is take the end of my rope, go underneath the body, over the body, and in through the loop, I just created and I have made my self a figure eight now.
Once you have figure eight, you actually want to tie a rewoven figure eight. This end would go through my harness or through a carabiner. Take the end and trace back my figure eight. So I go back up around through the next loop, around again and make sure you don't cross your lines, but it's a nice even trace and then cinch it tight. It should like an eight with a loop both sides.
The tie into a figure eight in the middle of a rope, you are going to create a bight. This is used for people who aren't at the end of a rope team in mountaineering. It's just like making normal figure eight. I go over the body under, and then I come through the top. Then I have my figure eight with a loop.
You tie a girth hitch to go around an object. Over here I have setup a girth hitch on a tree, you could also use it in your O rings, around shelter material or there is a circle on your ice axe, if you need to attach a piece of webbing to that. A girth hitch is a really useful knot. So what I have got is my fixed loop here. I am going to use my piece of line, which is another loop. I am going to go behind it, over and through and I have got this bight with a loop. Then I take the rest of my rope and just feed it all through there and cinch it nice and tight.
You can also tie a girth hitch without having a complete loop. So if I have a piece of material, I just take my line, make a bight in it, go through the O ring, and then you just feed the rest of the body all the way through, and then cinch it down. This is very similar to how you would tie on webbing on your ice axe.
A Prusik is a friction knot used in mountaineering and climbing mostly to climb a rope if you have fallen into a crevasse or if you have to get back up a rope or if you were repellent to serve as a safety as you are coming down. So tie a Prusik, you want two ropes of different diameters. I am going to take my fixed loop or my double fisherman's and I am initially just going to create a girth hitch, you guys remember the girth hitch.
Now once you have a girth hitch to tie a Prusik just loop it around two more times from the inside. Each time I clean up my knot and dress it up. Make sure it doesn't crisscross. Notice both ends come out at the center, then again, and cinch it tight. If done right, the two ends should wraps around all the loops. And your big loop is in the center, like so.
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