Untying a Clove Hitch One Handed

I am getting into trad climbing and am practicing all of the requisite techniques, one of which is using a clove hitch in various capacities. Tying the hitch is pretty straightforward. However untying the hitch is fairly difficult and seemingly impossible using only one hand. With gear on, I am relatively heavy, being around 220 pounds. Once the hitch is weighted and it cinches down on itself, it is extremely difficult to undo.

I am not sure if there is something that I am overlooking, or if there is some trick I am unaware of.

Any thoughts, or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think I've ever noticed a clove hitch being difficult to untie. Sometimes, I'll just slide the rope (clove hitch) off the carabiner at the anchor, then it unties itself. Are you referring to clove hitches with rope or webbing or...?

If you can't slide the knot off the biner as suggested above, pulling the center loop is a fairly easy way to loosen the knot. Pull closest to the unweighted side.

I have found when a clove hitch is loaded it will cinch down on the outside of the carabiner. By twisting the clove to the inside it will release enough tension to untie.

Alternatively if you know the clove will bee loaded with a heavy load you can place a Key lock biner in one of the loops in the clove. You can tug on the biner or remove it to make space in the hitch.

Yeah, I usually slide clove hitches out by unclipping the biner. Are you worried about transitioning to lead from an uncomfortable stance (e.g: hanging belay) and falling onto the belay? If so, a personal tether (e.g, PAS) or even a QuickDraw can be useful for this transition, although I don't recommend using it as your permanent attachment for belaying (see ad nauseum discussion about fall forces and static goods for why).

Learning how to tie clove hitches 1-handed and, more importantly, convert a clipped rope to a clove hitch, is super useful.

Ted Pinson wrote: Learning how to tie clove hitches 1-handed and, more importantly, convert a clipped rope to a clove hitch, is super useful.

Might be useful for some rescue scenario, but I've never needed to tie a clove or Munter one-handed. (OP asked about untying, one-handed, not tying). Not intending to put down your one-handed knots, just sharing my experience.

To reply to the various responses, which I appreciate:

Frank, the difficulty is using a rope at an anchor setup.

Brian, pulling the center loop is impossible. I feel as though I have a strong grip, however I would need a vice-like grip to loosen the hitch. Sliding the hitch off the carabiner is an option, but it is difficult one-handed.

Firestone, I haven't tried rolling the hitch too much, but that might help loosen it. I have considered using a second carabiner, which will most likely be my fall back option.

Ted, I have thought about using secondary gear to help in the transition, however I am trying to keep things as simple as possible.

Thanks again.

Again, it's not the fact that it is 1-handed that is necessarily useful (though it's a nice party trick), rather the fact that you can put in a piece, clip it like you normally would while leading, then flip it around into a clove hitch without unclipping that is handy if you're at a bad stance/chickenshit.

FrankPS wrote: Might be useful for some rescue scenario, but I've never needed to tie a clove or Munter one-handed. (OP asked about untying, one-handed, not tying). Not intending to put down your one-handed knots, just sharing my experience.

thread drift

I find tying clove hitches 1-handed so quick and useful that I hardly ever use 2 hands anymore...

/thread drift

To the OP: One thing that helps is unclipping the biner and working it back and forth a bit while holding onto the biner itself. That can sometimes loosen the knot enough to just slide the biner (1-handed) out of the knot.

Are you trying to undo it 1-handed while it is loaded with your body weight? If so, I appreciate the difficulty...

"I am getting into trad climbing and am practicing all of the requisite techniques"

This is not a requisite technique. I have never done this, and can't really imagine the circumstances where you'd have to. One-handed tying is very useful, but untying you generally have the use of both hands.

Alex, I may be misguided, however my thought is using the rope to secure myself to an anchor using clove hitches. Then, when it is time to begin the next pitch, I would need to untie the clove hitches to break down the anchor and/ or begin the next pitch.

If I am overlooking something, or missing a step, I would appreciate any clarification.

Jason Cockfield wrote:Alex, I may be misguided, however my thought is using the rope to secure myself to an anchor using clove hitches. Then, when it is time to begin the next pitch, I would need to untie the clove hitches to break down the anchor and/ or begin the next pitch. If I am overlooking something, or missing a step, I would appreciate any clarification.

When you are ready to unclip from the anchor, step up slightly to unweight the clove hitch. twist the knot back and forth as you slide the knot off the carabiner. This should be easy to do with both hands.

FrankPS wrote: When you are ready to unclip from the anchor, step up slightly to unweight the clove hitch. twist the knot back and forth as you slide the knot off the carabiner. This should be easy to do with both hands.

Does this also apply to a hanging belay, where you may not be able to adequately unweight the hitch / carabiner with your legs?

In practice, I have been unable to find an adequate position to untie the heavily weighted clove hitch and have been forced to use a sling to secure myself to the wall to unweight the clove hitch, freeing up both hands to work on it.

I appreciate all the feedback thus far. I will continue to practice all the previously mentioned ideas and see if I can find something that consistently works for me.

Jason Cockfield wrote: Does this also apply to a hanging belay, where you may not be able to adequately unweight the hitch / carabiner with your legs? In practice, I have been unable to find an adequate position to untie the heavily weighted clove hitch and have been forced to use a sling to secure myself to the wall to unweight the clove hitch, freeing up both hands to work on it. I appreciate all the feedback thus far. I will continue to practice all the previously mentioned ideas and see if I can find something that consistently works for me.

From that same hanging belay, you have to climb anyway when the anchor is gone, so just step up enough to unweight the anchor. I find it helpful to grab the anchor to help me up, sometimes. If you grab the masterpoint with one hand, you should be able to twist the clove hitch and slide it off with the other. The clove hitch doesn't have to be fully untied (which involves taking it off the masterpoint carabiner), just loose enough to slide it off.

You'll find something that works for you. Do you have a more experienced partner that can help you practice on some single-pitch stuff?

FrankPS wrote:Do you have a more experienced partner that can help you practice on some single-pitch stuff?

That is definitely one of my next steps. I have been sport climbing in gyms for years, in the Midwest, and am now trying to transition into trad climbing. I have been reading books and watching videos to try to understand the conceptual aspects of the techniques, while attempting to practice in a controlled setting. That way, once I find an experienced partner, hopefully I will be in a position to refine and improve upon skills I have a basic grasp of.

Jason Cockfield wrote: Does this also apply to a hanging belay, where you may not be able to adequately unweight the hitch / carabiner with your legs?

You can also just unclip the biner from the anchor, leave it cloved to the rope, and start climbing.

Jason, true hanging belays, where your entire weight is on the anchor, are actually quite rare, occurring mostly on big-wall aid climbs. Usually there is at least a foothold you can use to unweight the anchor while using both hands to untie the clove.

In the relatively rare case that you are hanging from the anchor with all your weight, you already have the solution: use a sling shorter than your tie-in to get your weight off the clove hitch and use both hands.

A strategy used for long anchor strands could also be used in general. Clip the anchor strand to the anchor and bring it back to your belay loop. Clove it to a locker on the belay loop or, better, clip it through your rope tie-in loop for less congestion at the belay loop. So now the clove hitch is with you at your harness. This is already going to make things a bit easier, because the clove hitch is only going to take approximately half your weight and so will not get as tight. To unweight it, put a friction knot around both strands of the anchor tie-in, connect the friction hitch short to your belay loop, and move the friction hitch up until you can weight the belay strands while unweighting the clove. Be careful not to drop yourself when loosening the friction hitch after undoing the clove.

A completely different approach would be to use a (properly backed-up) Munter Mule as your power point anchor knot rather than a clove hitch. With this you really could undo everything one handed without unweighting the anchor.

But really, there is never a need to untie a clove hitch anchoring the belayer one-handed.

Rgold,

Thank you very much for the ideas. They make perfect sense and seem to be what I was looking for when I posted the question.

In over 40 years of climbing trad, sport and big wall I have never had to untie a knot with one hand, tie a knot with one hand or tie a knot blind folded behind my back. Work on getting the basics down and keep practicing those basics. No need to make things any harder than they already are. Get outside and log the time and have fun.

I never tie a clove hitch one-handed either, but I use the one-handed method (without restricting myself to only one hand) all the time. The point is that rather than tying the clove hitch "in the air" as the video clip below says, it is frequently better to clip the rope into the power point carabiner, precisely adjust the anchor length, and then throw on the additional turn that makes the clove hitch. So even though the one-handed method is of no consequence, knowing how to do it is a basic skill.

Having said all that, the guide in the video below actually makes (somewhat far-fetched) a case for the one-handed clove.

youtube.com/watch?v=VWN-BBV…

Kevin Mokracek wrote:In over 40 years of climbing trad, sport and big wall I have never had to untie a knot with one hand, tie a knot with one hand or tie a knot blind folded behind my back. Work on getting the basics down and keep practicing those basics. No need to make things any harder than they already are. Get outside and log the time and have fun.

Agreed. There are rare occurrences where being to tie a clove one handed is useful (but never required). I've never ran across a scenario where I have to take the clove out and I absolutely cannot use the other hand. The OP referenced cleaning the belay, right before he's about to climb. Most climbers carry a tether of sorts to supplement the rope with to tie in. Even if you dont have a dedicated PAS or whatever, a standard 2' trad draw can easily accomplish this. You can clip into a single piece with your tether (once on belay), and clean out the entire anchor leaving only the single piece you're on. Then when ready, unweight the sling, pull the piece, and use that sling to rack your gear on for the next pitch. Quick, simple and convent. Plus no need to untie anything one-handed.