What Is/Are Your Favorite Friction Hitches for Climbing SRS/SRT?

Knotorious

Knotorious

That Guy With The Face
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I want to develop a general consensus of what everyone's favorite friction hitch is for climbing SRS/SRT?

Tell me your absolute favorite hitch for SRS/SRT and whether or not you use a rope wrench with it! Because there exist some hitches that allow you to climb SRS/SRT without a wrench!

Tell me or forever hold your peace! =-P

What is your "go-to" hitch for climbing SRS/SRT.............and WHY?
 
I know I'm alone on this, but I'm a fan of the helical, i literally have it on everything including my 3 strand construction lanyard i use at work. It can be adjusted on the fly tighter or looser so it's really easy to dial in or adjust as conditions change, works with everything beautifully. Perfect for leaving it tied too, there's a reason why the hitchhiker used basically the exact knot, very very nice on a lanyard.

I tie it a bit different, i do a slipknot for a connection point, setting how tight or loose you want it to be, and then do your loops, as many or few as you want, basically the rough setting. Then you tie a bowline with the two tails to finish the knot, which can be adjusted by working slack in/out of the knot really easily while simply unweighting it, and the whole while still tied in with it. It's also cheap and easy to run since you only need a length of cord, no eyes needed at all. A fixed leg pulley can straddle it beautifully making it a super clean and uncluttered system, which very short and compact with minimal sitback, a huge plus when running a wrench. I ran a single attachment point pulley when i was running a wrench, hitch on one side of it and the tether on the other, 1 less attachment than an eye to eye making it narrower so it fits better. These are the ends of my rope lanyard, the cheap pulley is the main one because i like the heavy snap, and the fancy one is often used as a ddrt/ moving rope system, visibly looser since i want an easier movement in a climbing system and tighter one on a lanyard.

20200704_171717.jpg

20200704_171801.jpg
 
On the hitchhiker I've been using the French prusik(I guess that's what it's called). I'm not super in love with it. It's a little finicky getting it just right, but it's easy to tie and works well.

I like the Innovation hitch on thicker lines. Gives a lot of control for feathering descent.

My favorite all around is probably the Michoacán. It's my first attempt at a hitch on new gear, and what I use on lanyards. I play around with, and use other hitches, but the Michoacán is the "default".

edit:
What I like about the hitches I posted is they're compact. A reliable grab, compact form, and easy to tie are what I value in hitches; probably in that order.
 
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I tried the french prussic when I installed my HH because I was worried about untying both stoppers and losing the dogbone but found it took more space on my line and my hands were bottoming out on it while ropewalking. So I went back to the Michoacan, which was more compact and recommended by more experienced climbers for a reason. I don't have enough experience with it to call it a fave but as long as it doesn't seize or send me plummeting, I think we'll get along just fine.
 
With my Hitchhikers I use the original hitchhiker hitch from Paul Cox’s instruction manual or the innovation hitch. I play with different knots on my lanyard but usually go back to VT or Michoacán. Those four are the only ones I really know. If I am playing with anything else I need to look up how to tie it.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11
Thanks to everyone who has shared a response!

My personal favorite is the CALLIGRAPHY hitch, which is a hitch I created.

Check out this popular video to learn how to tie it. I don't normally point out the popularity of my videos because most of them aren't very popular at all except for a niche community. But this got 1.4k "likes" and 25,200 views and it's a favorite among many of the climbers who follow my channel.

In the video I say "invented," but that's pretty cringe. I made this video over one year ago and I can't prove I invented it, and I stopped using that term a long time ago, but I'm the only person to come forward who has "created" it to my knowledge.

 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12
Tree09 said:
I know I'm alone on this, but I'm a fan of the helical, i literally have it on everything including my 3 strand construction lanyard i use at work. It can be adjusted on the fly tighter or looser so it's really easy to dial in or adjust as conditions change, works with everything beautifully. Perfect for leaving it tied too, there's a reason why the hitchhiker used basically the exact knot, very very nice on a lanyard.

I tie it a bit different, i do a slipknot for a connection point, setting how tight or loose you want it to be, and then do your loops, as many or few as you want, basically the rough setting. Then you tie a bowline with the two tails to finish the knot, which can be adjusted by working slack in/out of the knot really easily while simply unweighting it, and the whole while still tied in with it. It's also cheap and easy to run since you only need a length of cord, no eyes needed at all. A fixed leg pulley can straddle it beautifully making it a super clean and uncluttered system, which very short and compact with minimal sitback, a huge plus when running a wrench. I ran a single attachment point pulley when i was running a wrench, hitch on one side of it and the tether on the other, 1 less attachment than an eye to eye making it narrower so it fits better. These are the ends of my rope lanyard, the cheap pulley is the main one because i like the heavy snap, and the fancy one is often used as a ddrt/ moving rope system, visibly looser since i want an easier movement in a climbing system and tighter one on a lanyard.

View attachment 135764

View attachment 135765
Click to expand...
. Why climb on a single leg hitch when you can climb on a double leg hitch, which is twice as likely to perform it's duty and has twice the breaking strength? The Helical, even when customized, is also an overly complex hitch which requires much dressing and setting. Give the Arbsession hitch a try. It's simple and reliable. You probably won't go back.

 
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It's not a single leg hitch at all how i tie it, it's a loop. It's simply wraps around a rope, and a bowline to finish, doesn't get much easier than that. The legs on that are longer than the entire hitch i use, and I've found it's short enough to easily run under a wrench. I'm also old and tired enough that I'm not changing, it works great so that's enough for me :lol:
 
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  • #14
It was impossible to tell from those pictures that you had a loop passing through. I apologize. It looks as though you have a loop knot from one leg going around your slack tending pulley. Can you take a clearer picture of the connection point around the carabiner and the pulley so that I can better appreciate what you've done, please?
 
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  • #16
The slack tending pulleys are different and so are the termination features of.the same hitch. Can you see why I'm confused?
 
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  • #18
I'm not giving you a hard time. I just really want to learn about what you've done to the Helical hitch. I love modifying hitches as you know. @Tree09
 
I just hopped out of the shower and am making dinner/ doing the family thing, but I'll get a better pic later. I found those on my phone, I'll get a better one with a different hitch cord, the pattern makes that very hard to see
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #20
Take a picture as if the slack tending pulley doesn't exist. Just show that gorgeous loop coming out of your customized Helical hirch. Show a front view and a reverse view if possible. Did you come up with this design? I can put it on my channel and give full credit in any way you desire if so. Up to you. Either way, I might share it on my channel. VERY FEW customizations of the Helical hitch exist. In fact, yours is the FIRST. Excited!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #21
Sorry, friction hitches make me wet. I'm shameless about it. Rawr. Gimme that nasty hitch. Let me put my hands on it! heh heh
 
20240130_194327.jpg 20240130_194429.jpg

Here it is on my work lanyard. Slipknot, wraps, bowline. I'm sure i saw it somewhere, likely another rope discipline, but it's what i run on my lanyards, I'm on a mechanical for my climbline. I like them pretty loose so they tend really well, the knot grabs very reliably. There are tons of similar knots but they all are just wraps, and it's finished as a helical.
 
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