Learn Your Friction Knots

I was at the Garden of the Gods yesterday afternoon. Brian and I had to traverse over to the Kissing Camels, a delicate arch perched atop 300-foot-high North Gateway Rock, to evaluate the condition of the sandstone formation and to take photographs of various cracks that need to be stabilized for the Colorado Springs Park & Rec department. To get across the face to the arch we fixed a rope across a long traverse. Since I wasn’t being belayed, I attached myself to the fixed rope with a Prusik knot and a Klemheist knot and slid them along the rope as I traversed across the steep face to the arch.

Every climber needs to know these two friction knots, along with the Bachmann knot, to ascend a fixed rope, to extricate themselves from an emergency situation, and for self-rescue. Another important friction knot to know and use is the Autoblock knot, which is used as an emergency stop while rappelling. Learn all about these important knots in this new article 4 Friction Knots for Climbers that was posted yesterday.

Photo above: The Kissing Camels arch at Garden of the Gods.
Photograph © Stewart M. Green