Climbing knots

Climbing knots are few, and each one has a fixed job: tying the rope to the harness, closing off the end of the rope, building the anchor, joining rappel ropes, securing webbing and braking a descent. This guide shows what each knot is for, how to tell that it is tied right and which mistake makes it dangerous, so you can follow the instructor and take part in the partner check. It does not teach climbing: climbing, rappelling and anchors only happen with a certified instructor, certified equipment (UIAA label or CE marking) and a double check, and these knots are practiced on the ground.

🧗What are climbing knots and where does each one fit?

A climbing knot is any knot that belongs to the chain holding a person up high: harness, tie-in knot, rope, carabiners, anchor and the belayer below. If one link fails, the others do not make up for it, so each knot has a defined job and its own check.

Every piece of that chain has a standard. The 2026 Height Rescue handbook of the Espírito Santo Military Fire Department (CBMES), in Brazil, describes the UIAA, the international climbing and mountaineering federation, as the body that tests and certifies climbing equipment, and the CE marking shows compliance with European (EN) standards. Petzl, a climbing equipment maker, opens its knots page with a warning that these techniques require specific training and confirmation from a professional.

The Pathfinder Club's Rock Climbing honor calls for six knots, among them the double figure eight and the prusik, and the Rappelling honor asks you to explain the use of six others, from the water knot to the butterfly, as the Rappelling honor requirements show. In Brazilian Scouting (Escoteiros do Brasil), the Vertical Techniques specialty asks for the water knot, double figure eight, double fisherman's, prusik and Munter hitch.

Climbing technique is covered in the guide to climbing safely; here the focus is on why each knot is used.

🪢What are the types of climbing knots?

The table lists the 15 knots in the order of this guide, with the difficulty from the site's catalog, where each one has a video and step-by-step instructions.

Names vary. In Portuguese, the CBMES handbook calls the figure-eight loop azelha em oito and the girth hitch boca de lobo, and the Rock Climbing honor speaks of a double figure eight. Some call the figure eight rewoven through the harness a rethreaded figure eight. When in doubt, confirm the shape with the instructor.

Difficulty: Desbravai catalog. Uses: Petzl, Animated Knots and CBMES (2026).

🔗What is the figure 8 knot used for in climbing?

In climbing, the double figure eight that ties you to the rope is the Figure 8 Follow Through Loop, the knot Petzl lists for tying in. It starts as a simple Figure 8 Knot whose tail passes through the harness and retraces the shape back, at the spot the harness maker specifies, usually through both tie-in points, as Cornell University's Lindseth Climbing Center requires.

The sign that it is right is visual: at every bend, two strands side by side, with no crossing and no gaps. Under Cornell's rules, the knot sits no more than 15 centimeters (6 inches) from the harness, with a tail of at least 15 centimeters.

The most serious mistake is a tie-in knot that is started and never finished. In May 1989, at Buoux, France, American climber Lynn Hill threaded the rope through her harness to tie a double bowline, went to get her climbing shoes and never finished the knot, Climbing magazine reports. At the top of the route, as she leaned back to be lowered, the rope pulled free; she fell more than 20 meters (about 70 feet), crashed through the branches of a tree and survived with injuries, among them a dislocated elbow. The lesson applies to any knot: whoever starts tying in finishes before doing anything else, and the partner checks before the climb.

The Figure 9 Loop, with an extra half turn, is used in climbing as an end-of-line loop and can attach the rope to a rappel anchor, according to Animated Knots. A comparison of end-of-line loops is in the guide to loop knots.

⛓️Climbing anchor knots: bunny ears, butterfly or directional figure eight?

The anchor is the point that holds the system up top. The CBMES calls for extremely reliable attachment points, at least two (a main one and a secondary one), and carabiners rated above 22 kN. Petzl recommends the figure eight for the anchor as well.

The Figure 8 Double Loop forms two stable loops; some call it bunny ears, the nickname recorded by Animated Knots. Petzl lists it among the knots used to share the load between anchors when installing a fixed line. For top-rope setups, Animated Knots notes that this load sharing is no longer recommended: if one point fails, the slack sends a hard jolt onto the other. How it is rigged is the instructor's decision.

The Alpine Butterfly Loop makes a loop in the middle of the rope that can take force in three directions, and Petzl recommends it, together with a figure eight, to share the load between two widely separated anchors. The Figure 8 Directional Loop only takes pull in one direction: loaded from the wrong end, it capsizes and turns into a loop that closes under load, Animated Knots warns.

🎗️Water knot and carabiner knots: how do you attach webbing and rope in climbing?

Webbing forms loops for anchors and protects the rope on sharp edges. The Water Knot joins its two ends; the CBMES handbook considers it the only advisable knot for joining webbing and asks you to check it carefully, and Animated Knots explains that, with repeated loading and unloading, the outer tail can creep until it comes undone. A factory-sewn sling is stronger than a knotted one, the CBMES notes.

The Girth Hitch attaches webbing to the harness or to a bar, at a cost: the CBMES records a 55% loss of strength, and Animated Knots warns that the loss gets worse when two slings are girth-hitched to each other and recommends a carabiner to join them when strength matters.

The Clove Hitch, tied with two loops, is the knot to tie a rope to a carabiner with adjustable length, which Petzl defines as a rapid-adjust anchor knot. The CBMES records that it slips under loads above 400 kg and requires, at the anchor, a locking carabiner, always locked.

🛑What is a Munter hitch (UIAA knot) used for?

The Munter hitch, also known as the UIAA knot, is a brake made with nothing but rope and a locking carabiner: as the person in control holds or eases the brake strand, the rope stops or runs slowly. In Portuguese, the CBMES calls it the dynamic knot, UIAA knot or meio-fiel (half clove), a sliding knot with great braking power, ideally on an HMS carabiner, which is pear-shaped; in Brazil, some call it meia-volta do fiel. Petzl, which calls it the Munter hitch, warns that it does not lock the rope on its own.

The knot was born in Italy as the mezzo barcaiolo, and the UIAA adopted it as the “UIAA knot,” according to the Italian Alpine Club (CAI). In the United States, it bears the name of Swiss guide Werner Munter, who made it known there in the 1970s.

Two details separate right from dangerous: the brake hand never lets go of the rope, and the loaded strand runs on the spine side of the carabiner, away from the gate, so it does not rub against the lock and risk opening it (Animated Knots). The cost is that it twists and wears the rope.

The catalog's variations are instructor and rescue maneuvers that Pathfinders study without operating. The Super Munter Hitch adds an extra turn of friction for lowering heavy loads in search and rescue, and that turn keeps the rope from twisting. The Munter Mule Combination Hitch, also called the Munter mule overhand, locks off the Munter hitch with the rope loaded; the final overhand is essential, because the weight of the hanging rope could pull the slipped loop free (Animated Knots).

🧵Why does a rappel rope get a stopper knot, and how do you join two ropes?

Petzl says a rope that is too short causes many lowering and rappelling accidents, and advises always tying a knot in the end of the rope when rock climbing and, on rappel, a knot in each end when there is any doubt about the length of the descent. Cornell requires the Double Overhand Stopper, does not accept a single overhand in its place and teaches the sign that it is right: a symmetrical X on one side and an equals sign on the other.

For a longer descent, the instructor can join two ropes with the Flat Overhand Bend, which Petzl lists for this job, or with the Double Fisherman's Knot, always with long tails and a check. The limits of each bend are in the guide to the knot to join two ropes.

The double fisherman's also closes the cord loop of the Prusik Knot, created in 1931 by Austrian Karl Prusik: three wraps around the rope, the CBMES standard, that slide freely and grip under weight. It is used to climb up the rope, and the CBMES uses it as a self-belay on rappel. The family of friction knots is in the guide to the friction hitch.

👀How does a partner check of climbing knots work?

Before every climb and every descent, you check your own gear and your partner's, out loud, and the instructor checks both. Cornell treats this check as a critical step for everyone: beginners learn the system, and experienced climbers avoid mistakes made out of complacency.

At a Unit meeting, the Instructor can prepare knots with deliberate flaws (a short tail, a crossed strand, a rope end with no knot) for each pair to find the problem. Gear and heights are covered in the guide to rappelling and zip lines at the club.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 sums up the idea: “For if they fall, one will lift up his companion” (NKJV).

Sources: Cornell University, Petzl, Animated Knots and CBMES (2026).