Page 27 - Nate Fitch, Ron Funderburke "Climbing Knots"

CHAPTER 2

The Application
Heuristic

limbers are confronted with five essential tasks
C that require the use of ropework:
1. We need to belay.
2. We need to tie a rope to things (a climber, a
tree, a boulder, etc.).
3. We need to anchor (ourselves and our climbing
rope).
4. We need to manage the rope when it’s not in
use.
5. We need to use the rope to manage risk.
Much like so many other aspects of the sport,
there are dozens of ways to accomplish each of these
tasks with any number of different kinds of ropes,
tools, techniques, assistance from others, or knots and
hitches. The depth and complexity of the options add
to the richness of the sport. It can also be bewildering
if we don’t have an effective tool for decision making.
This chapter will hopefully equip a climber to
make informed choices about the use of the climbing
rope. The knots and hitches in this book have each
been subjected to the kind of scrutiny and investiga-
tion that we suggest all climbers indulge, but the most
enduring thing about effective decision making is that
it is a flexible tool. We’ve showcased the knots and
hitches in this book because they seem to be the most

14