Learn · Craft

Knot overview

The key climbing knots — with preview and a link to the interactive animation on Knots 3D ↗. Play it step by step, rotate it, and tie along at your pace.

Figure-eight follow-through — preview from Knots 3D

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Tie-in knots

Figure-eight follow-through

Standard tie-in knot at the harness

Use

Standard tie-in at the harness — recognised worldwide and often required in gyms.
Easy to check: the knot must look like a clean “8”.
Always have your partner check it after you tie in.

Tips

Dress the figure-eight before you tighten it — fewer corrections at the harness.
Leave at least a hand’s width of tail. An overhand backup is optional — required in some gyms.

Caution

A badly dressed figure-eight (tangled, twisted) loses a lot of strength.
Do not climb without a partner check.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Tie-in knots

Double bowline

Bowline rewoven through the harness — alternative to the figure-eight

Use

Alternative to the figure-eight — often easier to untie after a fall.
Useful on long routes when you untie and retie more often.

Tips

Always finish with a Yosemite tie-off and overhand backup — a naked bowline at the harness is off limits.
Partner check: eye snug, tail correct, backup seated.

Caution

A bowline without Yosemite finish and backup can loosen under a standing load.
Some gyms allow only the figure-eight — ask first.

Clove hitch in a carabiner — preview from Knots 3D

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Stance & rope

Clove hitch

In the bight in a locker — standard personal tether at the stance

Use

Personal tether at the stance: clove hitch in a locker — length adjusts without opening the system.
Join fixed points with the climbing rope (series, swinging leads).

Tips

Keep it slightly in tension, or the hitch can walk.
Two parallel turns around the carabiner, tails tidy — in the bight, not a messy reweave.

Caution

A sloppy clove hitch can slip or capsize under load.

Alpine butterfly — preview from Knots 3D

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Stance & rope

Alpine butterfly

Fixed loop in the middle of the rope — no ends needed

Use

A midline loop to clip — third on the rope, glacier travel, a clip-in on the line.
Isolate a damaged bit: the bad section sits in the loop and takes no load.
Holds load in three directions — both strands and the loop.

Tips

Dress it symmetrically — both “wings” even. The hand method works with gloves on.
After a load, often easier to untie than an overhand on a bight.

Caution

An asymmetrical butterfly can slip or capsize.
Do not clip the isolated damage — that loop stays empty.

Girth hitch (lark’s head) — preview from Knots 3D

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Stance & rope

Girth hitch

Sling on a tree, ring or harness — no carabiner

Use

Sling around a tree, block or ring — a natural anchor when there is no bolt.
Sling onto the harness tie-in or a gear loop.

Tips

Dress it flat, no twists. Load both legs equally.
On a tree: a thick object, don’t pull the sling over an edge.

Caution

Loaded on one strand it can slip — that is a cow hitch, not a girth hitch.
Sling-on-sling weakens the material, Dyneema especially. Prefer a carabiner if you have one.

Munter hitch in a carabiner — preview from Knots 3D

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Belay & backup

Munter hitch (HMS)

Belay and lower with only rope and an HMS carabiner

Use

Partner belay off the fixed point — DAV standard on alpine pitches when there is no tube at the stance.
Lowering and improvised rappel: friction comes from the rope rubbing on itself and the carabiner.

Tips

Use a wide HMS locker — two strands must fit. Brake over the solid arm, not the gate.
HMS on the strand the climber is on — not the empty one beside it.
Pay out parallel to the incoming strand — otherwise it kinks.

Caution

It twists the rope and gets hot. The locker must be locked — an open gate under load is critical.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Stance & rope

Prusik

Cord grip on the rope — self-rescue & progress

Use

Self-rescue and progress on a fixed rope (Prusik hitch / rope walking).
Classic: backup while rappelling (short Prusik). Not the standard backup for a partner belay at the stance.

Tips

Use slightly thinner, preferably soft nylon (PA) cord — pure Dyneema grips poorly.
On the packing list: don’t forget a short Prusik (~30 cm).

Caution

A Prusik wrapped too loosely will slip under load.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Stance & rope

Klemheist

Friction hitch with a sling — bites under load, slides without

Use

Ascent and descent on the rope, rappel backup — like a Prusik, but a sewn sling works too.

Tips

Watch the direction: it bites only one way. Extra wraps if the rope is slick or icy.
Unloaded it slides on the rope — more practical than a locked Prusik.

Caution

Tied the wrong way it will slip. Check it cinches before you load it.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Belay & backup

Overhand knot

Simplest backup knot — stopper and closing slings

Use

Backup on the bowline (with Yosemite finish) — optional on the figure-eight, required in some gyms.
Close a cord loop (alternative to a double figure-eight).
Shorten slings / master point on a trad anchor (overhand).

Tips

Snug it against the main knot — a loose backup can snag.
Always back up a bowline — on a figure-eight, enough tail is often enough unless the gym says otherwise.

Caution

The overhand alone is not a tie-in knot — use it only as a backup or sling knot.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Belay & backup

Double overhand

Stopper at the rope end — more secure than a single overhand

Use

Stopper at the rope end — e.g. when rappelling, so you do not go off the end.
Building block of the double fisherman’s: two opposing double overhands.

Tips

Cinch it hard, leave enough tail. Once set, it holds.

Caution

Not a join for two ropes — use a double fisherman’s or an overhand on a bight.

Double fisherman’s — preview from Knots 3D

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Belay & backup

Double fisherman’s

Join two cords or ropes — standard for Prusik loops

Use

Tie cord into a closed Prusik loop.
Join two ropes of similar diameter — hard to untie after a load.

Tips

Cinch both knots together, tails a good hand’s width. The wraps must sit clean.
To join two half ropes for a rappel in the Alps, often an overhand — easier to untie, flatter on the rock.

Caution

After a heavy load it barely unties. Mismatched diameters hold worse.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Tie-in knots

Swiss seat

Improvised harness from rope — emergency only

Use

Emergency harness when the climbing harness is missing — rappel or a short improvised action.

Tips

Wide around hips and thighs, knot in front, snug but not cutting off circulation.

Caution

Not a substitute for a climbing harness. It cinches and can numb the legs — emergency only, not for sport climbing.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Rope care

Alpine coil

Rope over shoulder and chest — hands free on the approach

Use

Carry the climbing rope on the body when the pack is full or the rope should stay ready to hand.

Tips

Loops the same length, cinch it tight so the coil does not dump.

Caution

Wrapped too loosely it slips while walking — and the rope lands in the scree.

Watch the Knots 3D animation ↗

Rope care

Coiling a rope

A rope coil — tidy, without kinks

Use

Store and carry the rope after the outing without it knotting itself.

Tips

Lay the loops from the hand, do not twist the rope — or it kinks on the next flake-out.

Caution

A twisted coil dumps a kink mess at the stance. Better to coil it again.

Figure-eight or bowline?

Figure-eight: worldwide standard, easy to check, often required in gyms — hand-width tail, backup optional.
Bowline: easier to untie after a fall, needs Yosemite + overhand, your partner must know it.
Both: always rewoven through both harness tie-in points, always with a partner check.

How to practise

Watch the Knots 3D animation, then tie it with a rope in your hands.
Practise slowly at the harness, talk it through — partner checks along.
Repeat regularly — knots fade.

Also important — covered elsewhere

Clove hitch and HMS in practice at the stance: length, strand choice, left–right — see belay anchors.
Overhand as a rappel join of two half ropes: at the wall, 10–20 cm of slack — see rappelling.

At the stance you often also need Belay anchors & rope management →, when rappelling the join of two half ropes → and on the tour the packing list →