Slide and grip knot used for ascent and descent.
VIDEO
Blake’s Hitch Details
Found in: Boating, Climbing, Hitches, Slide & Grip
Uses: Blake’s Hitch is a Friction, or Slide and Grip, hitch. Arborists use it for ascent and descent. Like other Slide and Grip Knots, you should only take the strain on the line below the hitch. Don’t use Blake’s Hitch for traction. Pulling on the knot can loosen it. This may cause an unexpected and uncontrolled descent.
Warning: The creators left the end short for the Animation. For critical loads, e.g., when Climbing, you must leave the end much longer.
Tying It: When you tie the Blake’s Hitch, it helps to wind the first two turns with your thumb next to the climbing rope. This maintains a pathway to make it easier to thread the line later. Note: This final threading must pass behind the main rope as shown.
Additional Security: For photography, they have kept the free end short. Yet, in practice, we should keep the end long. Some writers used to suggest the addition of a stopper knot for security, e.g., a Double Overhand or a Figure 8.
History: Blake’s Hitch was first described by Heinz Prohaska in 1981. He published it in an Austrian Guides Periodical. Later, it appeared again in Nylon Highway #30 in May 1990. Yet, Jason Blake described it in a letter to the Arbor Age in 1994. Blake’s Hitch is now a widely recognized name, and this term appears often in this context.
Pros and Cons: You can tie Blake’s Hitch, like the Rolling Hitch, at the end of a rope. This is easier because it doesn’t need a Prusik Loop. In practice, it is a stable knot that does not creep or roll along the rope.
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