The Munter hitch (or Italian hitch) is a friction hitch tied around a carabiner that allows a climber to belay or rappel without a dedicated belay device, using only the carabiner and rope for friction. It is an essential backup skill: if you drop or forget your belay device, the Munter lets you belay or descend safely. Its main drawback is that it tends to twist and kink the rope.
The girth hitch is a simple, quick knot used to attach a sling or loop of cord around an object — such as a tree, a harness, or another piece of gear — by passing the loop around the object and back through itself. Common in climbing for attaching slings and personal anchors, it's fast and convenient but reduces the sling's strength at the hitch and should be used appropriately, not where high, sharp loading is a concern.
The double fisherman's knot (or double fisherman's bend, also called a grapevine knot) is a strong, secure knot used to join two ropes or cords together, formed by two interlocking double overhand knots. Valued for its security and strength under load, it is the standard knot for tying cord into closed loops — such as prusik loops and cordelettes — and for joining rappel ropes, though it is difficult to untie after heavy loading.
A stopper knot is a knot tied in the end of a rope to create a bulky stop that prevents the rope from slipping through a belay or rappel device, an anchor, or another point — most importantly, to keep a climber from rappelling or being lowered off the end of the rope. A simple but vital safety measure, stopper knots (such as a double overhand or figure-eight) in the rope ends have prevented many serious and fatal accidents.
The autoblock (or French Prusik / Machard) is a friction hitch most commonly used as a backup for rappelling, in which a loop of cord is wrapped around the rope below the belay/rappel device and clipped to the harness. If the climber loses control of the rope while rappelling, the autoblock grips and stops the descent. Valued for being easy to release under load, it provides a hands-free backup that makes rappelling significantly safer.
The klemheist is a friction hitch — a loop of cord or webbing wrapped around a rope — that grips the rope when loaded in one direction and slides when unweighted, used for ascending a rope, backing up a rappel, and rescue. Unlike the bidirectional prusik, the klemheist grips in only one direction, can be tied with webbing as well as cord, and is often easier to slide and release. It's a useful alternative friction hitch in a climber's toolkit.
The flat overhand bend (often called the 'EDK' or European Death Knot, a misleading nickname) is a knot for joining two ropes for rappelling, made by holding both rope ends together and tying a simple overhand knot in them. Its key advantage is a flat, low-profile shape that resists snagging on the rock when the ropes are pulled down. It's reliable for rappel joins when correctly tied with long tails, but must never be tied as a figure-eight version, which can dangerously roll.
The figure-eight on a bight is a knot that creates a secure, fixed loop in a rope by tying a figure-eight in a doubled section (a bight) of the rope, rather than threading the end. Commonly used to clip into anchors and create attachment points, it shares the figure-eight's virtues — strong, secure, and easy to inspect for correctness — making it one of the most-used and trusted loop knots in climbing.
The alpine butterfly is a strong, secure loop knot tied in the middle of a rope, creating a fixed loop that can be loaded in any direction without distorting. Valued for being easy to tie mid-rope, strong, and easy to untie even after loading, it's commonly used to tie climbers into the middle of a rope (as on a glacier-travel roped team), to isolate a damaged section of rope, and to create clip-in points. It's a hallmark mountaineering knot.
The water knot (or tape knot) is the standard knot for joining two ends of flat webbing or tying webbing into a loop (a sling), formed by tying an overhand knot in one end and retracing it with the other. Common for making slings and anchors from tubular webbing, the water knot is reliable when properly tied and dressed with adequate tails — but it can slowly work loose over time, so its tails must be long and it should be checked regularly.
