35 Climbing knots

There are many knots used in climbing, rappelling and mountaineering. Popular climbing knots are briefly described and depicted in this article.

An autoblock is a rope device used in climbing and caving for both rappelling (downward) and ascending (upward).

The Bachmann hitch is a friction hitch, named after the austrian alpinist Franz Bachmann. It is useful when the friction hitch needs to be reset quickly/often or made to be self-tending as in crevasse and self-rescue.

A beer knot is a bend used to join tubular webbing. Its most common application is in constructing slings used in rock climbing. Compared with the water knot, it has the advantages of a higher strength, smaller profile, and a cleaner appearance due to the lack of free-hanging tails. However, the beer knot can be more difficult to tie than the water knot, and one of the tails is hidden from view, making safety checks for adequate tail length more difficult.

The Bowline on a bight is a knot which makes a pair of fixed-size loops in the middle of a rope. Its advantage is that it is reasonably easy to untie after being exposed to load. This knot can replace the figure-eight loop knot when tying into a climbing harness. It is one of the two tie-in knots that are being taught by the German Alpine Club (DAV), generally being considered secure.

The butterfly loop, also known as lineman's loop, butterfly knot, alpine butterfly knot and lineman's rider, is a knot used to form a fixed loop in the middle of a rope. Tied in the bight, it can be made in a rope without access to either of the ends; this is a distinct advantage when working with long climbing ropes. The butterfly loop is an excellent mid-line rigging knot; it handles multi-directional loading well and has a symmetrical shape that makes it easy to inspect. In a climbing context it is also useful for traverse lines, some anchors, shortening rope slings, and for isolating damaged sections of rope.

The directional figure eight is a loop knot. It is a knot that can be made on the bight. The loop must only be loaded in the correct direction or the knot may fail. It is useful on a hauling line to create loops that can be used as handholds. It also provides a place to attach a Z-Drag to the line when prusiks are unavailable.

A double bowline is a type of loop knot. Instead of the single turn of the regular bowline, the double bowline uses a round turn. This forms a more secure loop than a standard bowline.

A double figure-eight loop, is a type of knot that forms two parallel loops, and resembles the figure-eight loop.

The double fisherman's knot or grapevine knot is a bend. This knot and the triple fisherman's knot are the variations used most often in climbing, arboriculture, and search and rescue. The knot is formed by tying a double overhand knot, in its strangle knot form, with each end around the opposite line's standing part.

The farmer's loop is a knot which forms a fixed loop. As a midline loop knot made with a bight, it is related to several other similar knots, including the alpine butterfly knot and artillery loop.

The figure-eight knot or figure-of-eight knot is a type of stopper knot. It is very important in both sailing and rock climbing as a method of stopping ropes from running out of retaining devices. Like the overhand knot, which will jam under strain, often requiring the rope to be cut, the figure-of-eight will also jam, but is usually more easily undone than the overhand knot.The figure-eight or figure-of-eight knot is also called the Flemish knot. The name figure-of-eight knot appears in Lever's Sheet Anchor; or, a Key to Rigging. The word "of" is nowadays usually omitted. The knot is the sailor's common single-strand stopper knot and is tied in the ends of tackle falls and running rigging, unless the latter is fitted with monkey's tails. It is used about ship wherever a temporary stopper knot is required. The figure-eight is much easier to untie than the overhand, it does not have the same tendency to jam and so injure the fiber, and is larger, stronger, and equally secure.

Figure-eight loop is a type of knot created by a loop on the bight. It is used in climbing and caving where rope strains are light to moderate and for decorative purposes.The Flemish loop or figure-eight loop is perhaps stronger than the loop knot. Neither of these knots is used at sea, as they are hard to untie. In hooking a tackle to any of the loops, if the loop is long enough it is better to arrange the rope as a cat's paw.

The figure-of-nine loop is a type of knot to form a fixed loop in a rope. Tied in the bight, it is made similarly to a figure-of-eight loop but with an extra half-turn before finishing the knot.

Karash double loop is a common name for a knot forming two loops. This knot has been a known variant of the Bowline on a bight per the International Guild of Knot Tyers, referred to as bowline twist or twisted collar bowline on a bight. The knot is also referred to as nœud de fusion in French references and sometimes called Fusion knot in English.

The klemheist knot or French Machard knot is a type of friction hitch that grips the rope when weight is applied, and is free to move when the weight is released. It is used similarly to a Prusik knot or the Bachmann knot to ascend or descend a climbing rope. One advantage is that webbing can be used as an alternative to cord. The Klemheist is easier to slide up than a Prusik. The klemheist is also a way to attach a snubber to the anchor rope of small boats, with the advantage that it is easy to undo.

The Munter hitch, also known as the Italian hitch, Mezzo Barcaiolo or the Crossing Hitch, is a simple adjustable knot, commonly used by climbers, cavers, and rescuers to control friction in a life-lining or belay system. To climbers, this hitch is also known as HMS, the abbreviation for the German term Halbmastwurfsicherung, meaning half clove hitch belay. This technique can be used with a special "pear-shaped" HMS locking carabiner, or any locking carabiner wide enough to take two turns of the rope.

The offset overhand bend is a knot used to join two ropes together. The offset overhand bend is formed by holding two rope ends next to each other and tying an overhand knot in them as if they were a single line. Due to its common use in several fields, this bend has become known by many names, such as thumb knot, openhand knot, one-sided overhand knot or flat overhand bend (FOB), though the terms "one-sided" and "flat" are considered incorrect.

The overhand loop is a simple knot which forms a fixed loop in a rope. Made by tying an overhand knot in the bight, it can be tied anywhere along a rope. The knot can be used for attaching clips, hooks, other rope, etc., but has the disadvantage that it is likely to jam tight when the rope has been pulled and the knot may need to be cut off. It also has some uses in kite-flying, though other knots may be better. It is commonly disapproved by the Boy Scouts because of its tendency to be misused as an alternative to the bowline.

A Prusik is a friction hitch or knot used to attach a loop of cord around a rope, applied in climbing, canyoneering, mountaineering, caving, rope rescue, ziplining, and by arborists. The term Prusik is a name for both the loops of cord used to tie the hitch and the hitch itself, and the verb is "to prusik". More casually, the term is used for any friction hitch or device that can grab a rope. Due to the pronunciation, the word is often misspelled Prussik, Prussick, or Prussic.

The trident loop is a fixed loop knot which can jam when heavily loaded. It was proposed as a replacement for the figure-of-eight loop for use in climbing by Robert M. Wolfe, MD, who developed it as a loop form of Ashley's bend. While some tests indicate its strength lies somewhere between the weaker Bowline and stronger figure-of-eight loop, the trident loop shows exceptional resistance to slipping in shock-loading tests.

The triple fisherman's knot is a bend knot, used to join two ends of rope together. It is an extension of the double fisherman's knot and is recommended for tying slippery, stiff ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and aramid cored ropes.

The underwriter's knot is used in electrical wiring as strain relief to prevent a cable from being pulled from electrical terminals when the cable is yanked.

The water knot is a knot frequently used in climbing for joining two ends of webbing together, for instance when making a sling.

A Yosemite bowline is a loop knot often perceived as having better security than a bowline. If the knot is not dressed correctly, it can potentially collapse into a noose, however testing reveals this alternative configuration to be strong and safe as a climbing tie-in.