Common knots

Vertical caving terminology and methods > Knots

Common knots

This list of knots is intentionally not exhaustive. It covers the knots that are most likely to be used, whether intentionally or by mistake, or the knots that are used to construct a more common knot. It also covers a few of the commonly taught knots which should never be used, since a number of organisations teach knots which have serious shortcomings, and should never be allowed in safety-critical situations.

Subsections

• Overhand knot, thumb knot
• Half hitch
• Overhand noose, slip knot, noose knot, simple noose
• Half knot
• Overhand on a bight, overhand loop knot
• Tape knot, water knot, overhand bend
• Flat overhand bend, offset overhand bend, Alpine death knot ("European death knot" or "EDK" in USA)
• Double overhand knot
• Stopper knot, strangle knot, strangled double overhand stopper knot, double marlin hitch
• Poacher's knot, double overhand noose, ¾ fisherman's knot (sometimes "cinch knot" in USA)
• Double fisherman's knot
• Double overhand on a bight
• Flat double overhand bend, offset double overhand bend
• Multiple overhand knot, threefold overhand knot, Franciscan's knot, blood knot, barrel knot
• Scaffold knot, barrel noose
• Triple fisherman's knot
• Capuchin knot, Capucin's knot
• Bowline, stopped bowline, multiple bowline
• Left-hand bowline, cowboy bowline
• Eskimo bowline, reverse bowline, Cossack knot
• Yosemite bowline, bowline with a Yosemite finish
• Scott's locked bowline, woven bowline
• Bowline on a bight, double bowline on a bight
• Karash double loop, fusion knot
• Sheet bend, strap bend
• Figure of 8 (knot), Flemish knot
• Figure of 8 on a bight, figure of 8 loop, figure of 8 follow-through knot, rethreaded figure of 8, Flemish loop
• Figure of 8 bend, Flemish bend, figure of 8 rethreaded bend
• Figure of 8 on a bight bend, figure of 8 on a bight rethreaded bend
• Directional figure of 8, incomplete figure of 8
• Locked directional figure of 8, locked incomplete figure of 8
• Double loop figure of 8, double figure of 8 on a bight ("super 8" in USA)
• Figure of 9 on a bight
• Butterfly knot, love knot
• Alpine butterfly knot
• Single hitch
• Clove hitch
• Two half hitches
• Lark's foot, lark's head, girth hitch, basket hitch, lanyard hitch, cow hitch, strop hitch, bale sling hitch
• Italian hitch, Munter hitch, HMS, crossing hitch, super Italian hitch, super Munter hitch
• Prusik knot (pronounced "PRUH-sik", even though it should be "PROO-sik"), Gérard hitch, Hedden knot, kreutzklem knot, klemheist knot, inverted Hedden knot, French Machard knot, Bachmann knot, Bachmann hitch, autoblock knot, Machard knot, French prusik knot, Schwabisch hitch, Distel hitch, Valdôtain tresse, Valdôtain tresse XT, helical knot, Penberthy hitch, steeplejack's hitch, locking hitch, Blake's hitch, Prohaska knot, rolling hitch, Magnus hitch (sometimes "knots" in USA)
• Alpine clutch ("Garda hitch" in USA)
• Reef knot, square knot
• Strop bend, rubber band bend
• Butterfly coil
• Tensionless hitch, tensionless anchor, tensionless wrap
• Chain sinnet, chain sennit, chained, braided (even though this is not actually a braid), daisy chain
• Alpine coil
• Pack, figure of 8 flake

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