Friction hitch

A friction hitch is a kind of knot used to attach one rope to another in a way that is easily adjusted. These knots are commonly used in Single Rope Technique while climbing to ascend a hanging rope by alternately hanging on one friction hitch and sliding the other up. Friction hitches are also commonly used as ratchets to capture progress on a moving rope, to ensure that it can move one way (commonly up) but not the other. These hitches are a simple and cheap alternative to mechanical ascenders.

List of friction hitches

Warning: Though useful in other contexts, not all of the friction hitches listed below are suitable for climbing.

• Autoblock
• Bachmann knot
• Blake's hitch
• Distel
• French Prusik
  • Machard Tresse
  • Valdotain Tresse
• Icicle hitch
• Klemheist knot
• Knut (not Knute)
• Martin
• Prusik or Prussik
• Rolling hitch (or Taut-line hitch)
• Schwabisch
• TK

References

• Son of a Hitch: A Genealogy of Arborists’ Climbing Hitches

External links

• Climber's Friction Hitch Line up