How to Tie Into a Climbing Rope

For a safe and secure knot - and trust us, you want a safe and secure knot - follow these steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Belay Devices
• Carabiners
• Climbing Gear
• Climbing Harnesses
• Climbing Helmets
• Climbing Ropes
• Climbing Shoes
• Harnesses
• Locking Carabiners
• Slings

1. Put your harness on properly. Check it.
2. Prepare the rope for use either as a top-rope or by feeding it from one end to the other into a spaghetti pile so that it is ready for a lead.
3. Find the end of the rope you're going to tie into.
4. Grab rope about two-and-a-half feet from that end, and hold it up in front of you.
5. Grab the end of rope where it dangles to the side of the loop you are holding.
6. Wrap the end of rope around the main strand one complete turn and poke its end through the hole.
7. Pull the slack through to form a single-strand figure-eight knot. There should be about two feet of slack between the figure eight and the end of the rope.
8. Thread rope behind the harness waist belt and strap that joins the leg loops.
9. Follow the manufacturer's tie-in instructions for your harness.
10. Pull through all the slack until the single-strand figure eight is within two inches of the harness.
11. Note where strand of rope comes out of figure eight and goes toward harness.
12. Trace the end of rope back along the exact path of the figure eight, starting with the side closest to your harness and finishing with the strand that emerges on the side away from your body.
13. Pull the knot tight and neaten it up. The figure eight follow-through should have two strands of rope that run exactly parallel through the bends of the knot.
14. Tie a keeper knot with the 6- to 10-inch tail that sprouts out of the knot away from your body to stop the figure eight follow-through from unraveling while climbing.
15. Have an experienced climber double check your tie-in.

Tips & Warnings

• If it's not obviously an "8," you either went around one too many times or one too few.
• Practice tying this knot before you go climbing until you can do it without looking.
• Climbing is an inherently dangerous activity that can result in serious injury or death. We recommend that you seek proper training and equipment before attempting this activity.