Essential Knots
8 knots, their uses, and tricks to never forget them
Loops: Bowline and Prusik
- Bowline: fixed loop, doesn't slip, easy to untie
- Mnemonic: the rabbit comes out of the hole, goes around, goes back in
- Prusik: friction hitch, ascends a fixed rope
- Won't bite on a frozen or icy rope
Hitches: Clove hitch and Taut-line
- Clove hitch: quick attachment, never alone under load
- Always secure with a half-hitch
- Taut-line: adjusts tension on a tarp guyline
- Two friction turns, one locking turn
Tension and Quick Attachment
- Trucker's hitch: improvised pulley, x1.6 tension
- Always finish with two tight half-hitches
- Lark's head: attaches a strap or hammock in one move
- The weakest of the group in pure holding strength
Quick Release, and the Reef Knot Trap
- Siberian hitch: releases with one sharp pull
- Made for gloved or frozen hands
- Reef knot: secures a package, never joins two ropes
- It can spill and slip suddenly under load
lostandalive.com/guide/noeuds · 112 (Europe) · 911 (Amérique du Nord)