Securing Climbing Rope With Knot

Started by Tyler Gibson, January 20, 2013 · 25 Replies · 21,128 Views

Tyler Gibson

I have just ordered a 18ft 1.5in diameter manilla climbing rope. The gym at my college has a tenth mile indoor track that is above the basketball and tennis courts. I currently hang my rings from the railing of the indoor track, and I plan on doing the same for my climbing rope. I will have to set up and take down my rope for every workout in which I use it.

 

My question is if it is safe to hang the rope up only using knots. The two ways I would consider doing this would be to tie the rope around the railing, or to tie a loop in the end of the rope and then pull the other end of the rope around the railing and through the loop.

 

Does anyone hang their ropes like this? Is it safe? What knots would you recommend?

Christoph

Ask a climber (I am one :) 1. is not safe, because it's too complicated, some day you will make a mistake. 2. is not safe because of the friction of rope on rope. You have to work with a sling and a carabiner!

karimoo

If the railing is solid, it will work.  I currently have a similar setup at home, and I tied a 25ft, 1.5'' manilla rope to a large pole supported across a few beams.  I used a constrictor knot, and it's held completely solid since I tied it about 8 months ago.  I experimented with a few knots and asked some sailor friends, and this one is pretty much impossible to untie under load if done properly.

Tyler Gibson

Christoph: Any method of attachment will put friction on the rope unless it has a metal clamp that goes through the rope itself. Also I was thinking with the loop method I would only have to tie the knot once, after which I would simply pull the rope through the loop.

 

How would you attach the sling to the rope for your method? 

 

Karimoo: That sounds like it would work pretty well. I was thinking of putting a loop in the end using a double figure eight or bowline knot. That way I could easily set up and take down the rope by pulling the end around the railing and through the loop. 

 

Out of curiosity, how many feet of rope does the knot itself take up?

Joshua Naterman
Christoph said:
Ask a climber (I am one :) 1. is not safe, because it's too complicated, some day you will make a mistake. 2. is not safe because of the friction of rope on rope. You have to work with a sling and a carabiner!

I too support the sling + carabeener method, though I also prefer to make a loop at the end of the rope.

 

Of course, none of us can be there to watch, so do something you are confident in. If you do something wrong and your attachment breaks, you'll be in for a potentially nasty fall.

 

The contents of this post are for educational purposes only. Use at your own risk.

 

Methods for making eyes:

http://www.animatedknots.com/splice/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

 

 

Those give excellent strength. You will need to whip the splice, which means wrapping it tightly with a much smaller cord (often 1/8" manila, but you can use parachute cord as well for a simple climbing rope). You should google to learn how to whip rope.

 

Alternatively, you can bend the rope in half, so that you have a narrow eye and maybe 5" of rope below the eye, and do a whipping job around the whole thing. You should do at least 3" of whipping. 

 

Either way, once you've made your eye you will want to use a sufficiently strong loop as your actual hanging anchor. You permanently hitch it around your eye on the climbing rope, and use a carabeener to attach it to railing. Just loop it over and clip on the 'beener.

 

Make sure to use rope that is rated for a safe working load of at least 2x your bodyweight when making the loop that you will hang the rope with.

Cole Dano

For completeness sake, in case you have a Four-Strand Rope, the above won't work.

Instead follow the video below.

and here is an alternate, and I think clearer method to do the Three-Stand Rope.

Tyler Gibson

Wow thanks a lot for all the great resources. Once my rope get's here I'll post what I end up doing. Can't wait to start doing some cirques!

karimoo

The knot needs about 2-3ft to work, but I kept a bit of slack on the end since I had the extra rope.

Joshua Naterman

Karimoo, I did the same thing at first. Eventually the knot was just getting in the way because it took up a lot of space indoors, so I just made a smaller loop. 

 

I don't even have a proper splice, and when you splice keep in mind that the length of the splice is intended to transfer the full ~17,000 lb capacity of 1.5" Manila rope to the eye. We need what, 1000 lbs at most for safety? What I have can definitely handle that. If you whip properly, even a few inches is enough, but I highly recommend that you make at least a 6" long splice. Besides, splices are really neat looking, and pretty fun to make. Just keep the eye small so you don't waste space at the top or make something difficult to store.

Tyler Gibson

I just realized that the place I'm ordering my rope from will splice the end of any rope ordered. I think I'll just do that rather than trying to do it myself with no experience.

 

Joshua: So do you have the end of the rope spliced and then attach it to your anchor with a carabeener and sling?

Cole Dano
adidashred said:
I just realized that the place I'm ordering my rope from will splice the end of any rope ordered. I think I'll just do that rather than trying to do it myself with no experience.

 

Good move, it will almost surely be better finished that way.

 

adidashred said:
Joshua: So do you have the end of the rope spliced and then attach it to your anchor with a carabeener and sling?

 

Yes this is the absolute safest way to go.

Joshua Naterman
adidashred said:

I just realized that the place I'm ordering my rope from will splice the end of any rope ordered. I think I'll just do that rather than trying to do it myself with no experience.

 

Joshua: So do you have the end of the rope spliced and then attach it to your anchor with a carabeener and sling?

Yes!

 

I agree with Cole, get the company to do the splice if they offer it!

xray

What company are you ordering from?  I will (hopefully) need a rope within the year once I get further in the rope climb foundation elements.

Tyler Gibson

I ordered my rope from Knot and Rope Supply (knotandrope.com). They sell ropes up to 2in in diameter by the foot. I found the prices reasonable, especially considering that many fitness suppliers will try to sell 15 foot climbing ropes for anywhere from 80$ to $150. 

 

Mine is an 18ft rope with an eye splice. Essentially it is a 15ft rope because the eye splice takes up 3 ft. Mine was $56 all said and done, including shipping. Look around but this is the cheapest place I found online. The rope is quite nice as well.

maleko

Thanks for letting us know of that vendor. I see they will also attach one of those metal clamps for $25 on top of the price for whatever length of 1.5" rope you buy. Even with the clamp, they're still much cheaper than all the places selling "climbing rope" I've seen online. I think I'm gonna order one from them.

Tyler Gibson

I also looked at the Rogue fitness rope but it was too expensive, in my opinion. It costs $77 before shipping. Mine cost 56 after shipping and also has an eye splice. I'm sure their rope is good too, I just didn't want to spend $90-100 on a rope.

Keilani Gutierrez

I keep searching but I can't seem to find the rope preference that Coach said he uses in his gym. 

 

was it Manila?

maleko

That's what most exercise climbing ropes are.

Tyler Gibson

Coach says he prefers nylon rope because it splinters less. Manilla is what most climbing ropes are, and works fine. The website I listed above also carries nylon rope that seems reasonably priced.

Keilani Gutierrez
maleko said:

That's what most exercise climbing ropes are.

i've never participated in a gym where one was available, so doing the proper research now is what im doing to have all the available equipment when the progressions call for them :) I'm making my stall bars sometime in the next few weeks, so im stoked for that! rope climbs, i'll need to see where I can secure one. 

Joshua Naterman

Depends on how high you can hang it :)