SummitPost.org

I agree with the guy that said KEEP IT SIMPLE!!

Dont do any fancy knots that are time consuming and that you could get wrong.
Dont use a double or triple fishermans for the above reason,plus its a large knot, so when your pulling your ropes through, their is more of a chance they will get jammed.

A overhand knot with 12-18 inch tails is fine. If your worried back it up with another overhand knot. Simple, and can be tied in thirty seconds or so!!

There is a reason it's call the Euro Death Knot. But I use it the majority of the time.

Tying two ropes together to toprope long Indian Creek pitches, NO EDK, triple fishermans

Tying my 9 mil lead line to the 5 mil static to rap alpine rock, YES with backup.

Tying my 9 mil lead line to the 5 mil static to rap in the mountains, where I might get caught in a slough slide, and significantly increase the load, NO EDK. Other knots that are flat and stable under increased loads work great.

Sure, KISS. But most of us are smart enough to know how to tie more than 4 or 5 kinds of knots. And smart enough to know when they offer advantages. And smart enough to know when a partner will lesser skills needs to be educated about new knots, or placated with the old stanbys.

brandon wrote:
Sure, KISS. But most of us are smart enough to know how to tie more than 4 or 5 kinds of knots. And smart enough to know when they offer advantages. And smart enough to know when a partner will lesser skills needs to be educated about new knots, or placated with the old stanbys.

Brandon..agreed. The key word is MOST......I am starting to see lots of wacked methods out at the rocks. I hear of a resent JOSAR call out: some fool yelled take when he had only one - repeat - one
piece in! Decking is not pretty.

Why is it called a water knot? How did it get its name?

brandon wrote:There is a reason it's call the Euro Death Knot. But I use it the majority of the time.

I am a fan of the overhand knot for tying two similar diameter ropes together, so I am curious, what is the reason it is called the European Death Knot? BTW I always have an arms length of tail, and very importantly, to make the EDK safe, it has to be perfectly dressed and all four legs have to be tightened individualy!

As long as knot opinions are flying around here, I think raping and or belaying on a Munter should only be done if you drop your regular belay device, since the Munter puts a hideous twist in the sheath of your rope!

Cheers

T Sharp wrote:what is the reason it is called the European Death Knot?

I don't claim to be an expert on the origin of the EDK nickname, but I always thought it's because of how it looks: like it's not really enough to hold those ropes together, at least not when your life is on them.

Of course it works well, though. It's what I use every time, with a couple feet of tail and usually with a backup knot on the tails. But it's safe even without the backup knots, and I use it this way when there is serious snag potential on the pull. Most of my rope use is not in climbing but in canyoneering.