Which knots for Y hangs?

[andrewmcleod]

Having recently seen an example of the supposedly professional caving 'best practice' documents,

I'm guessing that unfortunately these documents are not currently in the public domain for our shared critique

 

[Hammy]

Having recently seen an example of the supposedly professional caving 'best practice' documents,

I'm guessing that unfortunately these documents are not currently in the public domain for our shared critique

As far as I know the only professional caving ropework best practice document is this one, available in the public domain.

http://british-caving.org.uk/wiki3/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=training:ropework_jan19.pdf

Is this the one you are referring to Mark?

 

[Mike Hopley]

I wouldn't consider the single strand as being unsafe to clip into with a cow's tail.

I'm puzzled by this. Are you aware that this connection depends entirely on a single anchor, as explained by andrewmc?

Because if the other bolt (the one with the double loop) fails there is every chance that your nice big cowstail carabiner will slide over the central knot and other stuff and send you down the pitch.

 

[Mike Hopley]

Seems like I need to persuade someone to drop test the fusion knot and the triple bowline in the configurations mentioned above.

To create a Y-hang with an integrated clip-in loop, I like the triple bowline best. Finish it with a Yosemite tie-off, so that the clip-in loop loads correctly.

I don't know whether this knot is subject to the same issue as the bowline on the bight, where clipping just one of the Y loops could lead to the caver travelling rapidly back down the pitch. But since you're providing a convenient central clip-in loop, it seems unlikely that anyone would do that.

This knot is a little more fiddly to tie and adjust than more conventional options, but a lot less fiddly than the BFK (which also uses at least a mile of rope).

(I suppose in principle you could make a "triple fusion" instead of a triple bowline, but now I'm really veering into uncharted waters...)

 

[Pitlamp]

This video just popped up randomly on YT.
Anyone recognise this mid-rope knot, or know whether it'd have a use in caving?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3FBnqK21-o

Normally if I wanted to know anything about ropes I'd just ask Mark Wright but I guess there may be one or two other folk who may find this of interest.

 

[Fjell]

It's offset to one side so you can more easily make a truckers hitch I suppose, or a multiple truckers hitch. Maybe. Sort of looks OK for tying your kangaroo down, or maybe a dinghy to the deck. Or maybe I'll just use an overhand like I normally do as it doesn't need your brain to be engaged in any meaningful way, which is always a plus in my experience.

 

[Ian P]

Whilst it may be suitable as a knot for caving, the main problem would be most people wouldn?t recognise it and probably think it was a badly tied Alpine or Cavers Butterfly.
Recognising knots is an important safety aspect In my opinion.
Always nice to see new knots but don?t think this one will be making it into general use.

 

[Bob Mehew]

This is definitely not either the Alpine not the Cavers Butterfly knots.  Unfortunately we won't be able to test it to compare with them for some while to come.