Slinging Block with Rope in multipitch anchor - what knot to tie?

You are leading a pitch of a multipitch route. You get to the belay and your best option for an anchor is slinging a giant block with the rope. You pull up some slack and make a big loop and sling the block. What knot do you tie?

I was in this situation the other day and tied a figure 8 on a bight with my rope and the followers rope. This worked fine but then my strand is "trapped" in the knot and is not adjustable. How do I fix this?

Here is a sweet paint drawing of the scenario:

slinging block with rope

figure 8 on one side of the boulder, clove hitch on your side.

Bowline around the Boulder and for the love of God!!! Belay off your harness.

the "real' way ... alpine butterfly or fig 8 on yr side ... clove the other side to that bight with a locker

the "lazy" (but still fine) way if you use a PAS ... just clove the other side back to your PAS locker

thats all there is to it

;)

Leave your strand with extra slack and clove in like mentioned above. Any knot will do, figure 8, overhand, bowline.... I suppose you could make a giant bite in an alpine butterfly if that floats your boat.

Edit:
Looks like a few of us posted the same thing simultaneously. The more important question, do you really have a red mustache?

Use a ginger knaught

What he said

+1 Bill. Belay off the harness man! You'll never go back

Shave the pornstar mustache!

That is a sweet paint drawing, Juan.

JuanYahr wrote:I was in this situation the other day and tied a figure 8 on a bight with my rope and the followers rope. This worked fine but then my strand is "trapped" in the knot and is not adjustable. How do I fix this? Here is a sweet paint drawing of the scenario:

If there is enough extra rope, you could pull it up and give yourself an extra long leash. Then use a locker on the power point to clove your leash in shorter.

1 walk around boulder
2 clove my tie in strand to locker1 with some extra slack to tie a masterpoint
3 clove follower's strand to locker1 and lock the locker
4 Either tie a masterpoint or just clove a locker for the belay device on my extra long tie in strand

If the boulder was small enough, I'd probably just untie my quad and sling it to make it simpler

Hey, Bearbreeder:

What would you do if the second became incapacitated on the way up? He or she is unconscious. And the rope is all-involved with the boulder.

I'm not trying to trap you into anything. Really. It's just a question that has crossed my mind a time or two. Assume there's not a way to get some gear in anywhere that you like.

Honestly, I'm thinking this is where I might be getting out my knife as one of the steps.

The best knot for this purpose is the bowline on a bite. It is equally effective as the figure 8 but much faster.

As stated above, the real trick to not getting trapped is to make your leash long enough and clove into your newly made loop as if it were the master point.

eli poss wrote:1 walk around boulder 2 clove my tie in strand to locker1 with some extra slack to tie a masterpoint 3 clove follower's strand to locker1 and lock the locker 4 Either tie a masterpoint or just clove a locker for the belay device on my extra long tie in strand If the boulder was small enough, I'd probably just untie my quad and sling it to make it simpler

This is what i used to do. The problem with this set-up is that the locker can get loaded in weird ways if then constantly loaded. This is the reason I learned the bowline. The bowline take away the need for the locker and it actually a little quicker.

matt c. wrote: This is what i used to do. The problem with this set-up is that the locker can get loaded in weird ways if then constantly loaded. This is the reason I learned the bowline. The bowline take away the need for the locker and it actually a little quicker.

sorry, forgot to mention that the locker should be a D or an oval so that the load stays aligned properly. If one were to use a bowline, wouldn't you have to estimate the amount of slack? The main advantages of using cloves are that it is tied after the rope is already around the boulder and it can also be used for trees where you may not be able to just throw a loop around it.

Will someone please paint the fig 8 + bowline diagram? (Serious) I am a visual learner and a diagram will make much more sense to me than words.

eli poss wrote: sorry, forgot to mention that the locker should be a D or an oval so that the load stays aligned properly. If one were to use a bowline, wouldn't you have to estimate the amount of slack? The main advantages of using cloves are that it is tied after the rope is already around the boulder and it can also be used for trees where you may not be able to just throw a loop around it.

These are the steps I take when using a bowline.
1 Walk around the object.
2 Pick up the lagging stand
3 tie the bowline with extra slack in the loop and in my leash.
4. tie overhand to make a master point
5. clove in with a locker to this master point.

You don't have to estimate slack in this method.

I'm having trouble visualizing this. When I tried to replicate this, weight either the leader's tie-in or the followers strand would pull the bight through the bowline like a slipknot. And the bowline on a bight formed a masterpoint so there is no need for the overhand. clearly i'm tying something different than you.

These are the steps I take when using a bowline:
1 Walk around the object.
2 Pick up the lagging stand
3 Tie the bowline on a bight with extra slack in the loop and in my leash.
4. Tie overhand to make a master point
5. Clove in with a locker to this master point.

one

two

three

four

five

Stick man comes through again. What would we do without him?

Props for the visual, matt c.

theres actually no need for a bowline ... you can simply tie a knot inline at shoulder height in the rope ... walk around the boulder and then clove hitch the other side strand to a locker you place in that knots bight

that bight also acts as a masterpoint

the clove easily allows you to adjust the length of the belay stance providing the friction around the boulder is not too great

-------

or even simpler walk around the boulder and clove hitch the other side strand to your PAS locker if you use a PAS

the top loop of yr PAS is now the masterpoint

;)