Page 47 - Nate Fitch, Ron Funderburke "Climbing Knots"

Guide’s Insight

At the North Carolina Outward Bound School,
where I spend much of my year teaching stu-
dents and staff to rock climb, one of our core
educational pillars is to teach the students the
value of craftsmanship. In all of their pursuits, but
especially in rock climbing, we teach students
that details, care, and precision matter. Tying the
figure 8 follow through is no exception. Students
groan and complain as they are continually
prodded to tie the figure 8 follow through in a
standardized manner: a small gap between the
knot and the harness, a 6-inch tail, and a perfect-
ly dressed and symmetrical knot. Interestingly
enough, with our insistence that they do so, stu-
dents quickly tie the knot correctly out of habit,
just like a professional guide.
I am reminded of this fact when I see climb-
ers not take the extra time to make their figure 8
follow throughs just right. Not only does a messy
knot contradict the reason we pick the knot in
the first place, but it takes only a few seconds to
correct it. Furthermore, if all climbers just got in
the habit of tying it right in the first place, there
would never be a need to adjust it. If hundreds of
teenage Outward Bound students can do it sum-
mer after summer, I’m convinced that anyone
can do it with only the slightest effort. —RF

34 CLIMBING: KNOTS