This refers to DRT. Been meaning to ask this and kept forgetting...

Watching Peter Jenkins' video, he ties a Figure 8 knot in the bridge he calls a "bridge knot." He says it's sometimes called a "rescue knot." He says he's never seen one have to be used in his 20 years of tree climbing, but says he still ties one anyway. He never explains what is its purpose. Would somebody be so kind as to enlighten me?

Thanks,
Jim

Could be wrong, but I seem to recall that it's a hold-over from the days before the Blake's hitch was the preferred climbing knot, when a lot of rope climbers were using the tautline hitch.

The tautline hitch had a reputation as a knot that sometimes could come untied if there were no stopper knots in place to keep the rope ends from feeding back through the hitch. That explains why we tie the stopper knot or safety knot in the tail of the rope that sticks out from the Blake's hitch -- maybe it ain't necessary but that's the way "things have always been done...!"

The knot called the "bridge knot" or the "rescue knot" was placed on the other side of the tautline hitch. As I understand it, in an emergency another person could climb up on an adjacent rope, cut the victim's rope next to the rescue knot, and the ground crew could then use muscle power on the down rope to lower the victim.

Anyway, Peter Jenkins taught this way to tie the system to Abe Winters and Genevieve Summers about 18-20 years ago, and Abe taught it to me about 13 years ago.

I now teach the same tying method to new students in the Basic Tree Climbing Course, but in the last year or so I've also showed how to tie it without the rescue knot.

Is this knot necessary? My answer is "probably not." Almost all rescues in recreational tree climbing are taught without cutting the victim's rope.

Now let's see if others can fill in the possible blanks in my answer.

From what I have learned, WildBill is spot on. I also agree on the "not cutting the rope" thing. I see no reason why you would want to cut a rope. I guess there could be an exception, but I would try real hard to find a different option.

There are two places where knots are tied in the hitch tail.

One, is a stopper knot in the bitter end of the rope. This IS a holdover from the tautline which would slacken or roll when it was used. If a climber wasn't paying attention and they had a short tail they could loose the hitch. More often the tautline would just move out of reach.

When Jason Blake injected the Blake's Hitch into climbing it only took a week of climbing on it to realize that it never creeps or rolls off the rope. When that was found the use of the stopper knot ceased. It is an OK idea but I don't know anyone on the pro side who uses the stopper with a BH.

I think that what you're asking about is a knot tied in the bridge as a marker to let a rescuer know which portion of rope is the bridge incase it has to be cut during a rescue. In that case I would tie an overhand knot between the harness attachment and the bottom of the climbing hitch. Keep the knot about 4" from the biner in the rope so that a short bridge can be tied.

With the advent of split tail climbing and hitches tied with cordage the need for a knot marker is eliminated. If I use a split tail for a Blake's Hitch I use a different color rope than my climbing line. It makes for a neater setup.

I would be so reluctant to cut a bridge in a rescue though. There is sooooo much danger in this leading to an accident that it makes no sense to risk making a bad situation worse.

A friend of mine took a rope rescue class that followed SPRAT, google it to find out more info, protocols. At the beginning of the class the instructor asked who had knives. Everyone of course, some had two! He had them take them out and put them into a large basket for safe keeping. Knives do NOT belong in a rope rescue kit. Better to use paramedic scissors, hand pruners or seat belt cutters. Bare blades can poke and cut the wrong thing too easily.

Yeah, I'm in agreement with WildBill and Eric...there are a lot of rescue options that are better than cutting a rope.

I tie the "bridge" knot when Abe, Genevieve, and others from the "old" school are watching, but when they aren't around I leave it out, most of the time. The knot is one of those things that is used simply because it's always been used and because nobody wants to offend the oldtimers (Not referring to you, Desi!) by not using it in their presence!

The only use I have for the thing is that it does offer a nice gripping point if your Blakes has been acting up and you need to reset the thing with a sharp tug to keep it from sliding around.

Thanks for the history lesson, everybody.

I'll tie the bridge and stopper knots--if nothing more than for tradition's sake . In any event they can certainly do no harm and they might conceivably do some good.

Jim

I do not use the figure 8 bridge knot or the figure 8 on bight attachment knot . I use a clove on bight attachment knot which i think makes it alot easier to tie in with less bulk and every bit as safe.

I've taken 2 courses aimed at introducing folks to work climbing, both taught by arborists. I didn't learn to put a 'rescue knot' in my bridge in either course, but did learn to put a figure-8 knot after the hitch in the tail. The first course was back went the tautline was taught, and you really do need a stopper knot on those! However even using a Blake's hitch I was taught to put a stopper on the bitter end as well. I know the Blake's doesn't tend to roll but I still put a stopper on the end every time. For one thing if you ever need to brake during a descent by yanking on the tail, having the stopper there seems like a good idea. For another....I've always done it that way! It some how makes sense to have that bitter end secured, even though it's highly improbable that it the Blake's will ever roll out.

No offense taken since I do not use the bridge safety know for the same reason Tom D. mentioned on using Split tails of different color - rarely if ever I use the tradition climbing system.

No offense taken since I do not use the bridge safety knot for the same reason Tom D. mentioned on using Split tails of different color - rarely if ever I use the tradition climbing system.

I like the bridge knot and leave it in when climbing on a traditional system. Here's why:

1) My bitter end always has a stopper knot - so I can't descend off the end of my rope.
2) My cambium saver is always returned to me when pulling the rope - stopper knot is pre-tied.

When teaching students, I start them out with the bridge knot and explain these two reasons.

Later, I let them decide if it is for knot for them - most stick with it.