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CLIMB SAFE INDEX Climb Safe: Rethinking the DoubleLoop Bowline
Ascender Safety 101 By Duane Raleigh
Ascending Rappel Ropes 101
Pity the doubleloop bowline—it’s getting a terrible
Autoblock Misuse (ATCGuide) rap. We bagged on the knot because in 1989 Lynn Hill
Avalanche Safety took a 70foot groundfall when her partly tied bowline
pulled free of her harness.
Belay School Why Dynamic Matters
Sacrilege! Or not? In its defense, the doubleloop bowline—the only knot that is truly easy to untie after a fall
Can A Hot Belay Device Melt My Slings? —has worked flawlessly millions of times for climbers and sailors worldwide. Yet, if the knot is causing
Choosing the Right Carabiner accidents, maybe we should rethink it. Let’s examine.
Common Belay Screwups STRENGTH
Connecting Two Slings Together According to Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, a bowline will reduce a rope’s strength 25 to 30 percent,
compared to 20 to 25 percent for the trace8. Considering that the typical tensile strength of a lead rope is
Daisy Chain Dangers
upwards of 5,000 footpounds, either knot, even after it has weakened the rope, is plenty strong.
Dangers of Rope Worn Carabiners
EASE OF TYING
Dangers of Worn Lowering Anchors
The doubleloop bowline and the trace8 are complicated knots that require practice. As Clifford Ashley noted
Do Ropes Need to Rest Between Falls in his 620page The Ashley Book of Knots, “A knot is never ‘nearly right,’ it is either exactly right, or
hopelessly wrong … ” Since tying both knots requires an equal skill level, a better measuring stick is to
Draws in a Gym
consider how the knots fare when you tie them the wrong way.
Extending a Cam Sling
Typically, people screw up the bowline because they tuck the end of the rope down through the loops to
Fall Factors Explained begin, instead of out through the loops (Step 1). Make this mistake, and the bowline looks obviously wrong
and tends to fall apart in your hands—but not always. In every documented case of doubleloop bowline
Full Strength Haul Loops
failure, the knot either wasn’t tied properly, or wasn’t cinched tight and not backed up.
Gear Doesn't Last Forever—Crampons The
common Typically, people screw up the
Gear Doesn't Last Forever—Ice Tool Picks bowline because they tuck the
way to
Gear Doesn't Last Forever—Slings & Draws end of the rope down through
the loops to begin, instead of
How Sketchy Is a SharpEdged Carabiner?
out through the loops.
How Strong are Himalayan Fixed Lines?
incorrectly tie the trace8 is to not completely rethread
How to Belay, Part 1 the 8, stopping the knot short of actually being tied.
How to Extend a Rappel Then, the trace8 looks almost right and holds itself
together, giving the illusion that it’s been properly tied.
How Strong is the Spinner Leash?
In some cases, a partly tied trace8 has even held
Knot Passing 101 weight, and the unsuspecting climber didn’t know he’d
blown it until he was back on the ground untying.
Rappelling Climbing's Diciest Business
Lesson: if you are going to tie a knot wrong, the trace8
ReSlinging Cams
is the one to botch.
Retiring Old Ropes
SECURITY
Rethinking the DoubleLoop Bowline
Sharpie for Marking the Middle of a Rope?
Sling Strength In Three Anchor Configurations
Spectra versus Nylon
You've got the moves dialed, but when was the last
Spotting for Bouldering
time you considered your most critical linkage, your
Surviving Bad Weather on El Cap tiein knot? Photo by Keith Ladzinski
The Dangers of Modifying Your Gear
The Dangers of Short Static Falls
The Electric Harness Acid Test
To Screamer Or Not To Screamer
Top Roping is Not So Safe
Weakness of Nosehooked Carabiners
What is the Safest Rappel Knot?
Assuming you’ve learned the knot, you can test its security by jiggling it to simulate the action of a rope as
Worn Belay Loops and Retiring a Harness
it’s repeatedly pulled taut, then slacked off. Do this test and you’ll find that the trace8 is the least likely of the
knots to untie itself.
In this sense, the trace8 is safer, but only because you are not using a backup knot—a dangerous but
common practice, especially among highend climbers. Finish either knot with a backup and they are equally
reliable.
Numerous backup options exist, such as the popular overhand and halfhitch, but the halffisherman’s (aka
grapevine) is superior. Although the halffisherman’s eats up some rope and is bulky, it is unlikely to work
loose, making the doubleloop bowline and trace8 blast proof. Best, the halffisherman’s can, in the event you
do incorrectly tie your main knot, even hold weight by itself.
In the end, both tiein knots have merit. If you are going to tie in sloppily and not use a backup, the trace8 is
king, being the least likely of the knots to come untied, especially in a stiff rope. But, tie in carefully, draw the
knot tight and use a backup, and the doubleloop bowline remains a sure bet.
READ: When Your Ropes Falls Off and 5 Ways to Prevent the Nightmare
Reader's Commentary:
10 Comments Sort by Oldest
Add a comment...
Sam Stephens · Staff Engineer at Shield Engineering
The retraced bowline is superior in all aspects
Like · Reply · 4 · 5 hrs
Trey Boone · Patrick Henry High
agreed. curious though if you know of any data on how
much the retraced bowline reduces rope strength (e.g. in
comparison to the figures for the trace8 and double
bowline cited in the article)?
Like · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
Matěj Kala
I prefer Yosemite bowline with backup
Like · Reply · 5 hrs
Trey Boone · Patrick Henry High
careful what you tighten when. retraced bowline is the way
to go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dj5Y3h1AEI
Like · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
Eric Burkemper · Mechanical Engineering Intern at Kiewit
Engineering & Design
Trey Boone I have tied a double bowline with a Yosemite
finish 100s if not 1000s of times and never once had this
happen. Thanks for sharing, I will have to investigate
further.
Like · Reply · 1 hr
Chase Shimmin · Works at CERN
Another important point: you may like one knot or the other, but if
your climbing partner(s) don't know e.g. what a bowline is
supposed to look like, then they can't check that your knot is good
(which is part of the belayer's job!)
Like · Reply · 4 · 5 hrs
Sam Stephens · Staff Engineer at Shield Engineering
The neat thing about the retraced bowline, it is easily
checked. 4 sections of parallel rope, that you can't do if you
tie it wrong.
Like · Reply · 4 hrs
Chase Shimmin · Works at CERN
Sam Stephens Doesn't matter if your belayer doesn't know
that.
Like · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
Eric Burkemper · Mechanical Engineering Intern at Kiewit
Engineering & Design
Chase Shimmin is right. A lot of my belayers have no clue if
Chase Shimmin is right. A lot of my belayers have no clue if
my knot is right. It is kinda interesting to see if some notice.
Like · Reply · 1 hr
Steve Jones · Fairfax, Virginia
I have been climbing since the 70's and have caught myself and
partners ready to climb with an unfinished knot! I can remember
when Lynn Hill fell. She recently said in an interview that she
doesn't remember which not she used, but that she was distracted
in the middle of tying her knot and did not finish it. To compound
that mistake she was wearing a jacket and could not see it.
I think the knot is irrelevant. It is the process that is important! Tie
your knot and have your partner double check it, just as your were
taught when you first started climbing. Double check everytime!
Just as you check for knots in the end of your rope before you rap!
Like · Reply · 4 · 4 hrs
Jer Alz · Grants Pass High School
Bowling with yosemite finish. I have whipped on it at 230 lbs. Easy
to untie and holds. Or you could do the 8 but put 2 loops threw your
harness before the follow threw. This will pinch tight reducing the
pull on the knot and keeping it untieable. But always dress your
knots. Make sure they are tight and double check them.
Like · Reply · 1 · 2 hrs
Brian Gillette · StudentTeacher at Rancho Buena Vista High
School
"In this sense, the trace8 is safer, but only because you are not
using a backup knot—a dangerous but common practice,
especially among highend climbers. Finish either knot with a back
up and they are equally reliable."
Ummmmmm...what's the backup knot?
Like · Reply · 2 hrs
Jon Lachelt · Owner/Manager at Ascent Studio Climbing & Fitness
The article says this: "not using a backup knot—a dangerous but
common practice, especially among highend climbers", but the
AMGA guides that I've talked to actually discourage a backup knot
(on a trace8). If I can properly characterize their reasoning "a
trace8 is plenty strong without it and with adequate tail of 6 inches
trace8 is plenty strong without it and with adequate tail of 6 inches
it doesn't come untied on its own, so it is a waste of time and rope
to tie a backup". I'd be interested to have an AMGA guide respond
to this article.
Like · Reply · 2 hrs
Howard Kanner · Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
I've been climbing for 40 years or so and have always and only
used the bowline or the double bowline. However, I teach people to
use the figure8, because it is more goofproof.
The question below regarding "reduced rope strength has no basis
since "the reduction in strength" is minor compared to the benefits
of the bowline: a bowline will never lock up as a Figure 8 does. A
climbing rope will typically have a dynamic breaking strength of
some 5,000 pounds. The loss in strength due to the turns in a
bowline is irrelevant.
Like · Reply · 1 · 2 hrs
Blue Hargreaves · Works at Blue House Construction
...it's not the knot!
Like · Reply · 1 · 2 hrs
Michael Ganley · NOLS ( National Outdoor Leadership School
Rabbit goes up through the hole, arond the tree, then back down
the hole. Also works with chipmunks, mice, groundhogs, moles,
voles, and squirls.
Like · Reply · 1 hr
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