Page 171 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

A History of Life Support Knots 161

arms put through the upper. To climb up the rope, loosen, push up and
retighten each ring in turn (Fig. 19). Gerard's note was quoted practically
in full in a long article about the use of the `spare rope' by Blanchet [5],
under a heading suggesting the method could be used to `climb a vertical
or overhanging and holdless step', though without discussing how to get the
main rope into position. Neither Gerard nor Blanchet seem to have given much
thought to just how the knot could be used in mountaineering practice. These
unenthusiastic accounts did not lead to any widespread application; indeed, I
have seen no other mention of Gerard's knot until Thrun [32, 10] mentioned
it nearly 50 years later. Apparently he had discovered it independently, but
he condemned it, without testing, as inferior to the Prusik Hitch. I have also
seen Gerard's knot in some French general knotting books, but called a Prusik
Hitch. Note, however, that Gerard's system of manipulating slings is still in
occasional use [14, p. 127], though simplifications using two slings (one for
one or both feet, one to waist or chest harness) are much more common, and
are described in many climbing, caving and rescue books world-wide.

Fig. 18. Gerard Hitch Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Prusik Hitch Fig. 21.

A couple of years after Gerard, Dr Karl Prusik [26] described a similar
knot (Fig. 20) and, in contrast to Gerard, discussed several uses for the knot
that any mountaineer could recognise as valuable. Prusik was a professor
of music in Austria, and a keen climber and writer of mountaineering books
[24]. He is said to have developed his knot from experience in mending broken
guitar strings during military service in World War I. He described a method
of self-rescue from a crevasse using two slings, each attached to a foot, passing
through a chest harness, and tied with his knot to the main rope at about
head level; each sling was moved up in turn (Fig. 21). This precise technique