Knots to Know Assessment 5/17
Figure 8 Knot
When used as a stopper knot, the figure eight takes a more compact tightened form.
Bowline Knot
A mnemonic used to teach the tying of the bowline is to imagine the end of the rope as a rabbit, and where the knot will begin on the standing part, a tree trunk. First a loop is made near the end of the rope, which will act as the rabbit's hole. Then the "rabbit" comes up the hole, goes round the tree right to left, then back down the hole..
Double Figure Eight (Bunny Ears)
The double figure eight, also known as the "Bunny Ears", is handy when equalising two anchors using the rope. Many top ropers are fond of this knot. The "ears" can be elongated or shrunk with a little adjustment making equalisation of the load fairly simple. Follow these steps to tie the double figure eight:
Step 1: Start with a figure eight on a bite in the end of the rope. Use a generous bite, way more than pictured, leaving a large loop sticking out the top. Step2: Feed this large loop back into the figure eight. Steps 3, 4 & 5: Continue feeding the large loop through. Not too much though, so as to leave the twin "ears" behind. Now tuck the large loop upwards, under the knot and finally over and around the twin "ears".
Steps 6 & 7: Pull the "ears" tight, and clip each on to your anchors. You can now adjust the tension, equalizing the anchors by elongating one ear, and thus shrinking the other ear.