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General Climbing Discussion

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in-line knots..... 2-Apr-2004 At 8:21:10 AM Estey

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Its probably already been mentioned in this thread but I think Bushwalkers S&R did some testing on this, probably for the benifit of canyoners. From memory an overhand knot cinched tight with adequate tails is fine. Apart from this local testing its been used in Europe for decades. Its easy to tie and untie as well. Just because it may look dodgy doesn't mean it is. It stops looking dodgy when you start using it regularly. I think the testing also found that an abnormal figure of 8 was unsafe as it can work itself loose.

Consider the following hypothetical. A novice climber rigs a double rope abseil using an overhand knot. His/her novice partner hasn't used an overhand knot for this purpose and comments it looks unsafe. Both climbers are in doubt. One has just read an instruction book on building anchors and recalls that a figure of eight is stronger than an overhand. They change the knot ...

At the end of the day all you need to know is what knot is safe to use in what situation. For joining x2 ropes together either a double fishermans or an overhand knot is fine. It comes down to personal preference.