rotate this pic. it is a nice chock stone.

just a heads up, choking a sling like that can reduce the strength by 60-70% Girth it so there isn't that extreme bend and it's much better.

Is that not a girth hitch? Also, where are you getting that statistic from?

I'm not sure about the percentage but yes, girth hitching like that is definitely less strong.

As oppose to girth hitching like what? Is this not a girth hitch? Also, any sort of bend, hitch or knot in a sling, or even a climbing rope, will have reduced breaking strength. I think Nick's statement is an overgeneralization about a girth hitch's breaking strength in a static environment and for what it's worth I'd bet to say that in this situation nylon will have the higher breaking strength over a dyneema sling.

The reason this is "cinching" girth hitch sketchier than a standard girth hitch is because of the force multiplication created by "hard" bend in sling acting like a pulley. Whereas a less aggressive cinching in action would create less force multiplication.

In some situations the loss of strength is worth the stability. This doesn't look like one of those situations.

EDIT to add:
It looks like (since I'm assuming right is down) switching which end passes through the other would make this a stronger configuration. Ultimately it probably isn't that big of deal anyway.

LOL! Undies in a bunch Andy!

NOT a big deal, but yes, the above is not ideal. There's alot of bickering about stuff like this out there but I classify things as "safe" and "unsafe". This is "safe" but not best.

Shit, I'd fall on that!

What I don't like are arbitrary statistics.

Did you know 60% of statistics are made up on the spot?

Lie!!! You made that up. It's more like 95%.

I'd fall on that, but if I did I would quit climbing immediately in shame for falling on a 5.4.

Half the people can be part right all of the time but not all the people can be all right all of the time. Abraham Lincoln said that.

If one really wanted to be a stickler for detail. Technically speaking the cinching hitch doesn't actually weaken the sling any more than a regular girth hitch - it does however increase the force on the "pulley" end of the sling. In a frictionless world it would create a 2-1 pulley system thereby making the effective strength of the sling half it's "normal" girth-hitched strength.

Is that a sufficient explanation Andy? ;-)