The figure-eight knot is the first knot every climber needs to learn. You’ll use it to tie yourself to the rope before climbing. It might be your first knot, but it’s also the most important one you’ll ever use. While it’s pretty simple to tie, getting it rethreaded perfectly can trip people up. If it’s not done right, it can come undone-not what you want!
That’s why you’ll often hear people say always to tie a stopper knot as a backup. And that’s great advice. But here’s the deal: if your figure-eight is tied correctly, it shouldn’t come undone in the first place. The knot is self-tightening, so if you do it right, you’re good to go without any worries.
While a stopper knot is a good habit, nailing that perfect figure-eight is the key to staying safe while you climb. I’ll show you how to get it just right, so you can feel confident every time you tie in.
I’m not saying don’t tie the stopper knot, especially at the beginning.
Tying the perfect figure 8 knot
Let’s go step by step on tying the perfect rethreaded figure eight for climbing. Along with photos and videos at the end.
Step 1: Getting the Right Length
Getting the right amount of rope for the knot can be tricky, but here’s a simple trick that works for me (and lots of others). Grab the end of the rope with one hand, then grab the rope a little further down with your other hand. Now, lift your arms so they’re parallel to your shoulders, and stretch the hand holding the end of the rope out to the side. This should give you just the right length you need. See the video for a demonstration of those.
Step 2: Tying the First Figure Eight
Now that you’ve got the right length, grab the end of the rope and wrap it all the way around so it loops back to where it started. Then, thread it through the loop at the top and pull it tight. If done right, you should see a shape that looks like an eight. See the video for a demonstration of those.
Step 3: Threading Through Your Harness
Next, take a look at your harness. You’ll see a belay loop that’s connected through two other loops. Thread the end of the rope up through those two loops. See the video for a demonstration of those.
Step 4: Rethreading the Figure Eight
Now that you’ve threaded the rope through your harness, it’s time to rethread the figure-eight knot. Grab the end of the rope and start following the path of the figure eight you made earlier, rethreading it along the same path.
This is the part which people often mess up, so here is the best way to do it so it turns into a perfect figure 8 knot.
- Start by going up through the knot: Take the end of the rope and thread it up through the figure-eight knot, making sure it stays on the outside, not the inside of the rope.
- Go around the load strand: Now, wrap the rope around the load strand (the part of the rope that’s holding your weight). Make sure you’re rethreading over the top of the figure-eight knot, not just following along the rope.
- Thread through the middle and wrap around: Staying on the outer side of the knot, thread the rope through the middle of the figure-eight, and then wrap it around.
- Finish by threading through the top loop: Finally, bring the tail of the rope (still keeping it on the outside) around and thread it up through the top loop of the knot. Make sure that the load strand is going through the centre of the knot, while the tail end comes out on the outside. Having the load strand on the outside can make the knot even harder to untie.
Now pull everything tight, and you’ll should have the perfect figure 8. Ensure the tail end of the rope is long enough. To do this, make your hand like you are using an old phone, the tail should be at least the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger. See the video for a demonstration of those.
Step 5: Checking and Testing the Knot
Now that you’ve tied your knot, it’s time to make sure it’s done right before you start climbing.
First, take a look at the loop through your harness. Like I mentioned earlier, it shouldn’t be too big—just snug and neat. Also, double-check that the rope is threaded through both loops on your harness.
Next, inspect the knot itself. After some practice, you’ll get the hang of knowing when it looks right. But when you’re just starting, a good way to check is the “2,2,2,2” method. You want to go around the knot and make sure there are two strands of rope at each section: two on the side, two around the rope, two going back through the loop, and two at the bottom going back up.
If that sounds a bit confusing, don’t worry—I’ll show you exactly what I mean in the video below.
Here is a short video on tying the perfect figure 8 knot.
Disclaimer: Climbing is a dangerous sport. Getting professional in-person instruction is STRONGLY encouraged/ recommended. Don’t take this or anything online as adequate training, This is just information on the correct procedure.
