Rope Terminology

Talkin’ Knotty

In my earliest pursuits of knot lore, I discovered I have a hard time learning knots. Deficiencies in hand-eye coordination combine with deficiencies in attention and lack of retention, which combine with greater deficiencies in patience.

Before we can talk knots, we have to be able to communicate in the same language. Climbers, sailors, firefighters, loggers, and cowboys all have their vocabulary for the anatomy of knots called to task. I borrow techniques and vocabulary from different disciplines.

We’ll need a common language. For example, the “bitter end” of the rope to a sailor is the “running end” to a climber. Let’s choose running end and use standing end for the other long end going back to the main body.

Now, two more terms, and we’ll know all we need to talk knotty with one another. Imagine your bite mark on a slice of bread, and the shape describes a bite of rope. Climbers, sailors, and bakers tend to agree on bite. Now, draw the running end of the rope across and over the bite. You’ll have a loop.

Anytime a loop is drawn around a pole or long object, it becomes a hitch. Two opposing hitches make a clove hitch. Two mirrored hitches form a girth hitch. (See image on Page 54 with both types of hitch on the green bar.)

Measuring Rope

Nature gives us several different reels for gathering rope. The first yardstick for line or string is one loop around your hand. Pick up a short shank of string or light rope and wrap it around your hand 10 times, using your thumb as a holder. Measure the distance of that rope in your hand. When I do this, 10 wraps equal 92 inches, or 9.2 inches per wrap (my hand constant). So, a wrap of about 13 coils around my hand equals 10 feet. If you count the number of coils around your hand, you can multiply by your hand constant and know the approximate length of the rope. One may secure the coils with duct tape and write the length on the tape.

Another convenient body reel is the forearm. (Example below.) Bend your elbow with your hand in the air. Use your thumb to latch the running end and wind down around the elbow and back up, counting each wind as it passes the thumb. When I do this for 10 winds, I come out with 29.4 feet. Using my elbow constant, I estimate 25 winds to be less than 75 feet.

However, the most useful biometric I’ve found is the distance between my thumbs when I extend my arms all the way out from my sides. For most of us, our arm reach is close to our height. Using your fully extended arms as a ruler while you simultaneously gather the rope isn’t a wasted effort.

Don’t Step on the Rope

I aspire to be able to tie a knot regardless of unfavorable environment. During my first lesson, it took forever to learn how to “properly” store a climbing rope. The biggest take home of that lesson was: Don’t step on the rope. This oft-quipped remark connotes the respect that any rope bearing human weight deserves. A rope stepped on repeatedly becomes a rope only used as a maintenance rope.

Storing Rope

There are many effective ways to store rope, and even more ineffective ways, the worst of which is not at all. All ropes should be stored clean in a dark, rodent- and chemical-free environment.

A dynamic climbing rope is an extremely expensive piece of gear. It’s engineered to behave as a giant, shock-absorbing bungee to absorb the fall of a climber. Only one fall is allowed on a rope, and it becomes a maintenance rope thereafter. Rescue ropes aren’t stored with maintenance ropes.

A shank of rope around the hand or forearm is about the only way I’ll introduce coils into my life. If you’ve spent as much time as I have dealing with coils, you appreciate the inherent challenges in working off a coil: There’s inevitably a tangle. When encountering tangles born of coils, I’ve frequently adopted the spiritual perspective: Using coils has somehow opened the gates of hell! It’s a demon writhing in this snarl! Get thee back, coils! The only time I store a rope in a coil is to say to myself, “For human weight only!”

Climbers flake their rope into a spaghetti-like pile in preparation for working the rope. If I remember from half a century ago, the technical
term for that pile is “spaghetti.”

Any kind of old cloth or canvas sack with rope randomly stuffed in will surrender the rope easily without an exorcism.

The Butterfly Technique for Gathering Rope

Climbers, sailors, and rafting guides use the butterfly technique to gather rope and avoid snarls.

1. Secure the running end between your left thumb and forefinger.
2. Fully extend your arms, creating the maximum distance between your hands (see Butterfly 1).

3. Bring the rope in your right hand back to your left hand and run it from the front side of your left palm through the space between your forefinger and thumb, using your thumb to hold it (see Butterfly 2).

4. Again, fully extend your arms to draw another length of rope and then bring the rope back to your left hand, this time running it through the space between your forefinger and thumb from the back of your hand. Repeat the process, alternating the rope forward and backward in your hand. (Notice my hands and rope placement in Butterfly 1.)
5. Then, count the number of lays forward and backward across your open palm (see Butterfly 3). Multiply this number by your height, stride, or arm length. This will give you the length of the rope in your hand.

Congratulations! You’ve completed Lesson 1 on storing, deploying, and not stepping on rope. Please join me in the next issue for more “Knots So Fast.”