Page 166 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

156 History and Science of Knots

Developments before the Second World War

Climbers have always been strong individualists, so that even in 1907 it was
claimed that `an almost endless variety [of knots] are used by climbers', though
relatively few were recommended in any one manual. This position continues,
and in the preparation of this paper well over a hundred knots were found, and
this was in mainly British and American books; more knots are known to be
used elsewhere. However, most people recommend that climbing parties should
limit the number of different knots used in the interests of safety through
uniformity; indeed, just about all climbing purposes can be met with fewer
than ten knots. The only problem is getting agreement on just which those
ten should be! I propose to discuss from here on only those knots or usages
that might be unexpected by knotters brought up in the transatlantic nautical
tradition. Many ordinary knotting books contain few if any of them, and even
such a comprehensive book as Ashley [3] fails to mention many.
Development of climbing techniques, including knots and ropework, con-
tinued more or less steadily until World War II. Throughout this period, a
climber falling on a rope from any substantial height was liable to either break
the rope or suffer considerable body damage from the rope alone. The dangers
were reduced a bit from the 1920s by replacing the `direct' belay, where the
belayer passed the rope round some rock feature or the like and kept it tight
between the climber and the anchorage, with an `indirect' or `resilient' belay,
where the rope was wrapped round an arm, shoulder, thigh or the whole body
of the anchored belayer. A falling climber caused these ropes to tighten and
moved the body of the belayer over some distance, reducing the shock on both
rope and climbers. Techniques for a `dynamic' belay had been developed to
some extent during the 1930s but they by no means eliminated the problem;
the rope to the falling climber was deliberately allowed to slip past the belayer
under controlled friction, using at that time a rope arrangement as in the re-
silient belay, to give a gradual arrest. The leader had to pay attention to the
rule that `a leader does not fall'. On the other hand, a `second', a climber
following the leader, supported from above by the rope from the leader, could
fall only a very short distance till the rope took up the tension, and this was
normally safe.
Increasing use was made of artificial anchorages, particularly pitons or
steel pegs driven into cracks. To avoid threading the rope through the eye of
the piton, a karabiner, or metal snap link, was used, first adopted around 1910
by Munich climbers from their local fire brigades. `Artificial' or `aid' climbing
began in the 1920s; instead of putting all the weight on the rock, artificial
aids such as pitons which sometimes held slings were used. All these practices
were for a long time regarded by many, particularly in Britain, as unsporting,
and were not generally adopted until after World War II. The knots used with