the 8th Variation

time and time again i have proven my self to be many things on this site...dork, nerd, geek, obsessive. yeah okay you can say those things. but you realize, your a jerk! name calling jackals! kidding.... come back.. hey.

seriously though, like popeye says "i am, what i am". so i was sitting around thinking about climbing which is common for me. and recently i got an email about technical climbing skills. generally i have shied away from teaching people about rope or safety skills. mostly thats do to the fact that i really really really do not want to be sued. but, today i was thinking about climbing as i said before and i started to obsess about the figure eight knot... oh you know that one? pretty cool right?! how many do you know. for me it started with the idea of do i know eight variations of the figure eight knot... guess what?... oh yeah you guessed it i do. **side bar: "listen negative voices inside my head! if youre just gonna peanut gallery this entire post, id really appreciate it if you just went ahead and did something useful... try cleaning out the cobwebs and old memories of "whats-her-name"**

sorry kids...had to be done. so... obsession, figure eight, eight variations. who wants to know what they are? well too bad.... god! is everybody gonna kick me when im down!!

in no particular yet highly coincidental order:

"the figure eight knot"

this is a no brainer... for people who have brains anyway. i will point out this knot has a use beside being the starting point for tying in. it is an excellent knot for putting in the end of your rope so you dont lower someone off the end. it's more stable than an overhand knot and easier to untie than a fisherman's knot that has been set.

"figure eight follow through"

this all too common knot is also known as the "rethread" or "the tie in knot". every climber im sure knows the first two. otherwise you gotta be asking yourself, "am i actually a climber?"

"figure eight on a bight"

dont cry foul sure it looks the same. but the way it is tied has more in common with the basic eight knot. this guy is very helpful for building anchors that are in a straight line. other than that...

"the in line figure eight"

love this knot. it took me probably the longest to be able to tie without having to think about it first. this guy is super handy for creating directions. think, belaying over a ledge from above and wanting to be able to see the second climb. trust me the first time you find it handy, you love it forever!

"the joining figure eight"

very similar to the follow through, but you start from different ends. its strong, reasonable to untie... all the good stuff. the main thing is it works great for joining two rope of different diameters. like my 10.2 and my 9.0 in the picture.

"the stein knot"

or...the rappelling figure eight, what ever... this is the coolest. you see with the carabiner in place each tail is independently stable. but once you remove the carabiner the eight falls apart and the rope can be pulled through the rap rings, chain, or what have ya. think parties of three,the first two can rap at the same time without effecting the centering of the rope, then the third pulls the biner and comes down. cool right!

"the double looped figure eight on a bight"

this knot like so many others has many names like "dog eared eight", "rabbit ears", "anchor eight"...blah blah the list goes on. it's got two loop that prior to setting can be equalized. its great for two bolt anchors when multi-pitch climbing. i use it almost religiously. bad thing is it will use quite a bit of rope to tie. but we all climb with 70's nowadays right?

"the equalizing 3-point figure eight anchor knot"

i have no idea if anyone calls it that. personally im not even sure if ive ever said that aloud. but this guy is similar to the last knot, but you get three point of coverage, and they are minimally dynamically equalizing. ie the rope will shift some to weight all three points... in theory. look just set it right the first time... so you dont slowly saw through the sheath of your rope!

there you have it kids. you now know more. and knowing is... well... yes...? OH GOD DAMN IT!! didnt any of you watch GI JOE?! it's half the battle! knowing is half the battle!!! sometimes you guys make me so angry i want to start punching babies!

kidding, i would never hit a defenseless child, i wouldnt even shake it... i heard... well, i heard thats bad. in closing i would like to say, yes i know i didnt teach you to tie anything. you can look up every one of these knots via google... i promise. and there a loads of guys with knot tying websites, with waaaaayyyyy cooler animation then i am trying to get into. here's my favorite. check him out: oh, and know your systems, know why and what your doing. i didnt tell you exactly how to apply anything, so NO SUING! no suing! no suing!

(did that look like a shout echoing?)