How to tie in?

When you tie your figure eight follow through onto your harness, do you start by threading the rope down from the top tie-in point to the bottom tie-in point OR do you thread up from the bottom tie-in point to the top tie-in point?

I personally thread bottom to top. But it's personal preference and the main thing is to make sure you are through both tie in points.

all the manufacturer instructions ive seen say feed up from the bottom.

I don't see how it makes any difference whatsoever. Fwiw I go through the bottom tie in first, but you are really accomplishing the same thing either way.

The left (blue rope) is figure 8 on the bite. The right (pink rope) is a s@*t. The left knot will be tighten by a pull, the right know will be loosen (ref. orange/green arrows).

Nathanael wrote:When you tie your figure eight follow through onto your harness, do you start by threading the rope down from the top tie-in point to the bottom tie-in point OR do you thread up from the bottom tie-in point to the top tie-in point?

I always do top down

Despite all the double checks, ive had and seen folks only tie into one point ... Its a myth that double checks will always catch you

If you go top down youll be tied into the upper point, which will still keep u upright

If you go bottom up, you may flip if ur only tied into the lower point ... This would be bad

Ive seen this happen despite the "checks"

I go bottom up mostly because I think the knot is easier to follow through then. To bearbreeder's point, while that is a concern I think that threading up will make you thread the bottom loop and then it is easy to see that you've threaded the top one as well. It would be awkward to tie your knot without the top threaded.

bearbreeder wrote: Despite all the double checks, ive had and seen folks only tie into one point ... Its a myth that double checks will always catch you

My experiences are quite different. I've never had a double check fail. Hence, double checks always work. See, wasn't that a scientific observation?

To the OP - I go bottom->top. My rationale - it is easier to see how the rope is threaded when it gets threaded from the bottom up.

Well I'm a top->down kind of guy myself based on the same logic as bearbreeder and (mostly) habit. I'm a little disappointed at the lack of
"YER GONNA DIE"
"If you have to ask then you shouldn't be doing this yet"
"Hire a certified guide"

In Re: to Pavel, I got my rope and tried these both, I see that with the knot on the right if you tie it loosely and then weight it there will be one strand that doesn't tighten fully, but the knot itself does tighten and should be completely safe. What exactly does it mean to be "a s@*t", I'm not familiar with that term.

Loose

Tightened

Pavel Burov wrote:

yea, no......

I do bottom first then top then loop back down and do it again. I find this more comfortable since it basically cinches the to tie in points together from the start instead of just when you weight or fall so you can keep the jewels out of the way.

bearbreeder wrote: I always do top down Despite all the double checks, ive had and seen folks only tie into one point ... Its a myth that double checks will always catch you If you go top down youll be tied into the upper point, which will still keep u upright If you go bottom up, you may flip if ur only tied into the lower point ... This would be bad Ive seen this happen despite the "checks"

Good point. I've always gone bottom up but I like this rationale.

Pavel Burov wrote:

Both of those knot versions can be tied regardless of how the harness is threaded.

Anyway, I thread from down to up if using the bowline and up to down if using the figure eight. But really, you can use either.

bearbreeder wrote: Its a myth that double checks will always catch you

Ha, it's questionable if they even catch a mistake half the time. Depends on your partner. In the gym, whenever I climb with a new partner, I typically like to test them by tying in with the bowline and asking 'does my figure eight look good?' You might be surprised how many people say yes...