The Michoacan Knot

The Michoacan knot finds specialty application among tree climbers.  It's classified as a closed friction hitch.

Here are some variations of it.

Here's the 4-1 version (4 wraps; pull through 1st wrap)

The 5-2 version.

The 5-1 version.

Here's how to tie one of the variations:

Bowline Made from a Slip Knot

I prefer to make the bowline in this fashion. Note how the process starts with a bight, loop and bight.

The top bight is inserted into the loop.  This forms a slip knot.

 The remaining bight captures the loop formed by the slip knot.

 Once captured, the slip knot is pulled out.  Another way to say it is as follows: the slip knot is capsized (turned inside out).

Consider how a bowline was just formed by a slip knot.  Could it capsize the other direction?  Yes.  Thus the bowline alone isn't stable for the demands of climbing.  It needs to be backed up.

A common back-up is the Yosemite.  Here it is.

Reworking the Blakes Hitch

There are occasions where a Blakes hitch will lock-up with a heavy climber.  This illustration is exploring a possible counter measure.  The blue loop is in a strategic spot to facilitate an easier descent.  It hasn't been thoroughly tested.  This serves to review it and gain experience with it.

The Palomar Knot

I'm evaluating the Palomar knot as a climbing knot.  There are reports of it being a strong knot.  It's a bight of rope that makes an overhand knot.  Once at that stage, the loop (1) sticking out is pull back on the overhand knot.  A carabiner captures the doubled rope at the (3) position.

Here are the beneficial features: a) doubled rope b) no sharp radius turns c) easy to unload d) has an unique shape and ease of inspection.

Questions: i) OK for terminal use ii) to what degree has it been used and tested in the climbing worlds iii) as a mid-line attachment, is it stable (thinking about the two strands at different angles)

SKILL DRILL

One knot makes an overhand knot.  The other makes a Fig-8.

Knot Dilemmas

There are hazards to avoid with some knots.

The Slip Knot Dilemma:
A common practice is to use a slip knot to back-up a new climber.  There are two outcomes to tying a slip knot.  One can capture the climber's leg and make rescue problematic.  The other slip knot can't form a cinch.

In this illustration, the top slip knot is a problem.  The bottom one is OK.  Tie them and place them on your foot and pull.  The top knot will cinch while the bottom knot doesn't.

The Fatal Buntline:
If a carabiner is clipped into each of the buntlines, the one on the right will slide off the end of the rope and fail.  By definition, the one on the right is a buntline, yet its use has a potentially fatal outcome.

There's a similar problem with the scaffold hitch.

How to Electronically Draw a Knot

This provides a set of instructions to made simple knot graphics.

Take a photo using white colors.  Upload to Picasa.

Picas has tools to lighten the photo.

Convert it to a black and whte image.

Move the image to Microsoft Paint and trace the rope with a curving black line.

It's helpful to zoom the image to 200% and listen to TED.com or NPR.org in the background.

Save the image and return to Picasa.  Once the image is viewed in Picasa again, use the edit tool to completely whiten the original photographed image.

Return to Paint if a final color finish is desired.