Rope Basics
The knots and ideas behind a safe descent
Every climber, rescue tech and rope worker relies on a small set of knots. None of them is complicated. What makes them work is choosing the right one, tying it well and checking it every time.
This page is an overview of the knots and ideas that come up most in rappelling and rope work: what each one is, what it's for, and what matters about it. It's here to help you understand them. It is not a substitute for learning them hands-on.
The knots
Figure-eight follow-through
The knot most climbers use to tie the rope to their harness: a figure eight in the rope, traced back through the harness's tie-in points. It's popular because it's strong, easy to learn and easy for someone else to inspect at a glance.
What matters: the rope goes through the right parts of the harness, and the finished knot is neat, tight and left with a generous tail.
Figure-eight on a bight
The same knot tied in a doubled section of rope, making a fixed loop without threading anything. Used to clip the rope to an anchor with a locking carabiner, or to make a solid loop along the rope. It's easy to recognise and holds a fixed size, which is useful when a loop must not slip.
Stopper knots
A bulky knot tied in each end of the rope, so the rope can't slide through a rappel or belay device. Securing the ends is called closing the system.
It matters because one of the most persistent rappelling accidents is going off the end of the rope. On some multi-pitch descents knotted ends can snag, so climbers secure the ends in other ways. Either way, the ends get dealt with.
Ashley stopper knot
A bulky, trefoil-faced stopper devised by Clifford W. Ashley around 1910. It resists pulling through an opening better than other common stoppers.
Autoblock and prusik
Friction hitches: a loop of thin cord around the rope that slides when loose and grips when loaded. On rappel, one is added as a "third hand" backup that grabs if the rappeller lets go of the brake rope.
The autoblock is the usual rappel backup: quick to set up and easy to release. The prusik grips harder and stays put: a classic for climbing up a rope and for rescue rigging. What matters most is how the backup is set up, which is exactly the kind of detail to learn with an instructor.
Schwabisch hitch
A directional friction hitch: an asymmetric relative of the prusik, tied with thinner cord around a thicker rope. Like other friction hitches it slides when unloaded and locks under load, but it grips in one direction only. Loading it the wrong way is a safety error, not a detail.
Popular with arborists for ascending, descending and backing up a descent.
Clove hitch
Wraps the rope around a carabiner. A favourite for attaching yourself to an anchor, because you can adjust its length without untying it. It is not used to anchor the end of a rope.
Munter hitch
Wraps the rope around a carabiner so it creates friction as rope runs through, letting you belay, lower or rappel without a device. A valuable backup skill if you drop or forget your device. Its downsides: it twists the rope, and it needs the right carabiner and setup so the rope can't work the gate open.
Joining two ropes
Longer rappels often need two ropes tied together, and two knots are the usual choices.
The flat overhand (sometimes called the offset overhand, or with dark humour, the "EDK") is a single overhand tied in both ropes together. Many guides prefer it for rappels: all the strands leave the knot on one side, so it tends to ride over edges and through cracks when you pull the rope down, and it handles ropes of different diameters. It depends on being tied neatly, pulled snug and left with long tails.
The double fisherman's is a bulkier, very secure bend, widely treated as a benchmark for reliability. The cost is that it can jam so tightly after loading that it's hard to untie, and it's more likely to snag when the ropes are pulled.
The choice is a trade-off: easier rope retrieval, or more margin. A look-alike, the flat figure-eight, has a record of rolling apart under load and is not a substitute.
Habits that hold it all together
Dress, set and tail
A knot isn't finished until it's dressed (strands neat and parallel, nothing crossed), set (pulled tight on every strand) and left with enough tail. A sloppy knot can behave very differently from a neat one.
Partner checks
Before anyone climbs, lowers or rappels, someone else looks at the knot, the harness, the device and the anchor. It takes seconds and catches the mistakes we can't see in our own work.
Redundancy
A good system doesn't depend on any single item. If one part fails, something else holds. That applies to anchors, backups and checks alike.
Edges and rope care
Sharp edges are among the greatest threats to a loaded rope: avoid them first, then protect against them. Keep a rope clean, don't stand on it, keep it away from chemicals, inspect it often and retire it when in doubt.
Why knots matter
Accident reports tell a consistent story. Rope failures are rare; people's mistakes are the usual cause. Across decades of the American Alpine Club's Accidents in North American Climbing, the same errors keep returning.
No stopper knots, followed by rappelling or being lowered off the end of the rope. Unfinished or misrouted tie-in knots, often tied while distracted and never checked by a partner. Rappels set up wrong, with no backup to catch the error. And trusting a single, worn anchor sling: that kind of failure killed two climbers at Tahquitz Rock in 2022.
Researcher Valerie Karr's analysis of these reports points to complacency rather than lack of skill. Experienced climbers are involved in a large share of accidents. Descents, when people are tired and in a hurry, deserve as much care as the climb.
Sources: the American Alpine Club (Accidents in North American Climbing and The Prescription), Climbing magazine, Animated Knots, Knots 3D and IRATA International.
Safety note
This page is general information, not instruction. Nothing here teaches you to tie, rig or check any knot or system, and reading about it does not prepare you to use it. Knots and systems used for life safety must be learned from a qualified instructor, practised under supervision and checked every time they are used. Rope work carries a real risk of serious injury or death. If you are unsure about any part of your system, stop and get help.
Learn them hands-on
Want to learn these knots properly, with an instructor watching your hands? Come work through them hands-on with OTL.