I (Think/Hope) I Developed A New Hitch Design

[Knotorious]

I have been wondering for a while, how do YOU know what you are preaching?

Are you a professional treeclimber or just a Youtube hero?

I'm not "preaching" anything. I'm simply sharing the knowledge I've acquired following the better part of five years studying tree climbing and knots, as someone who climbs recreationally. I only talk about what I have an accurate and thorough understanding of. I have yet to relay any incorrect or dangerous information to my viewers, so I feel 100% confident operating my channel. I'm definitely not a YouTube hero, because I only have around 6K subscribers. So I guess I'm just a highly learned, highly enthusiastic recreational tree climber. Not sure why you seem to think I need to be in the tree work industry, or a "pro," in order to be able to provide useful and valuable information to people online, which is what I'm inferring from your comment.

Here's the disclaimer on my channel in full view on the homepage. At no point have I ever pretended to be something I'm not, and if people enjoy my videos and want to give informed consent to take my advice, then why are you so opposed to that? Why are you trying to put tree climbers into a box and why are you inferring that I shouldn't be allowed to accurately educate people who also enjoy arborist style tree climbing?

"DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an expert. The activities discussed in this channel are inherently dangerous and a climber must fully understand how to use their equipment, and understand basic climbing techniques, prior to ascending. My videos are NOT a substitute for professional guidance, teaching and/or direction. Be sure to get instruction from a trained professional before even considering climbing a tree of any size. Always begin "low and slow." You take my advice at your own risk and I cannot be held responsible for any injury (or death) you may incur. Tree climbing takes practice, patience, and stringent inspection protocols in order to generate an acceptable margin of safety. Avoid climbing alone. Have backup plans! Enjoy!"

 

[stig]

I was quite simply wondering, because I looked at one of your videos and thought you looked a bit pudgy for a pro climber.
Yet you seemed obcessed with climbing and especially gear, so I was somewhat mystified.
Good to have a hobby, though, ewveryone should.

 

[Knotorious]

I was quite simply wondering, because I looked at one of your videos and thought you looked a bit pudgy for a pro climber.
Yet you seemed obcessed with climbing and especially gear, so I was somewhat mystified.
Good to have a hobby, though, ewveryone should.

Your tone just did a complete 180. Yes, I am a bit overweight and currently somewhat out of shape, but that just means my climbs aren't as intense at the moment and that I get a bit more winded than usual. But my weight has no bearing on my ability to understand, explain, and demonstrate climbing systems, or anything for that matter that is related to tree climbing. There's actually a guy on YouTube who IS a "professional arborist and tree climbing expert" called "Bino H" who is easily five times more overweight than I am, and yet he moves around in the canopy just fine, has over 30k subscribers, and regularly demonstrates climbing methods and techniques. So don't judge a book by its cover, sir.

 

[Kaveman]

I'm 6'2" and 165lbs. no body fat, but I climb so infrequently that I'm out of condition for the job, at least in my opinion. My cousin carries an extra 40lbs or so, but because he climbs every day, moves much easier through a canopy than I do. Albeit, the gulf of difference in experience also means that I've learned to move more efficiently than he does, which results in approximately the same speed of work, and about the same level of fatigue, as best as can be measured anecdotally.

Every body is different.

 

[Knotorious]

Today I filmed myself demonstrating/testing the SYNERGY friction hitch that I created and developed, which is my version of the STICHT hitch, and it works beautifully without a rope wrench. In the video, there's a brief discussion about how I set my Synergy hitch up with a Hitch Climber pulley after tying the hitch cord legs into a loop using a Sheet bend, and then formed the loop into two eyes using a Girth hitch, and then places one eye on either side of the lowest hole on the pulley. This allows for use with a chest ascender and also provides an easy means for slack tending.

In the second half, I climbing up a rope a couple of times and then demonstrated how the hitch will not bind or get locked in place on the rope the way that most friction hitches do, and that it's easy to break the hitch, and showed how the hitch will stop as soon as I take my hand off of it. This is only my second time ever making a video like this where I show my test on camera. I have a feeling that people will hopefully appreciate it. Espcially considering I I have received countless requests for me to film some tests for certain hitches.

What was shown in this video is far from being a comprehensive test. But it does prove that the hitch works as advertised, and that's really the important takeaway.

 

[Knotorious]

I created a new loop knot today. Not sure what I'm going to call it yet, but it's pretty freaking sweet! Let me know what you think!

 

[Knotorious]

Introducing, the EPIPHANY friction hitch, by yours truly, @Knotorious!

I had just finished one of my newest videos for my channel, which was a deep dive into the SPANISH BOWLINE, a really interesting double loop knot, and I found myself practicing one of its tying methods yesterday and I had an epiphany. I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be so cool if I could find a way to create a quality friction hitch using the SPANISH BOWLINE?!" And so, just yesterday, I managed to come up with a working friction hitch, using the SPANISH BOWLINE to form the eyes for the hitch, and by tying the knot around my rope, I figured out a clever way to both keep the hitch secured to the rope and to generate friction below the coil when the hitch is loaded.

Here are pictures of the front and back of the EPIPHANY friction hitch. The amount of wraps that you use is entirely up to you and fully customizable. But you must alternate legs and do the first four wraps with only one of the legs; this will ensure that the first four wraps are going to definitely lock onto the rope (if dressed and set correctly with firmness around the rope) and so that the friction hitch will function correctly.

Read the text in each of these two pictures for more information about this hitch. I'll be making a video for it very soon. I just want to do some more testing and, potentially, come up with a better version and/or a better tying method. I did climb on it already and it functions beautifully! I want to do at least one more climb so that I can verify my initial findings and confirm that this hitch is of the highest quality. One obvious downside is that it isn't going to be very easy to tie compared to many other friction hitches, but it is work trying out because I love it.

The two fixed loops are awesome. You can connect into both loops or you can connect two ropes or two systems, or yourself and something else, to each loop individually!

 

[Knotorious]

This is my latest episode on my channel where I showcase four different methods for creating mechanical advantage on a limb walk! The intro, in retrospect, is a bit too long, but it's pretty cool and I like it overall. I made this video almost two months ago, and I'm now just getting around to posting it. I have all of my videos arranged on a schedule, so that they will auto-post on the designated date at the designated time. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the video! It's very educational!

 

[Knotorious]

Just reached 6,000 subscribers...



Here's my latest video about the Scott's Locked Bowline that is due to be posted tomorrow...

 

[lxskllr]

"This video is private"

 

[Knotorious]

@lxskllr I had it scheduled for this morning. You can watch it now. Sorry about that everyone!

 

[Knotorious]

Check this hitch out. I bet you've never seen a Figure 8 as a friction hitch! Put some watermarks on there simply because...you never know!

The Figure 8 descender makes it super easy to ascend the hitch and the lower, smaller opening can be used to connect hardware for mechanical advantage systems and whatever else a climber might need. In addition to serving as a rigging plate, it's very ergonomic and fits nicely in one's hands. It also looks quite neato! lol

Finally, it might work without a rope wrench. Behind that Figure 8, in the back, is some really clever knotting below the coil that might alleviate enough tension to allow it to work by itself as part of an SRS/SRT climbing system. I have to do some testing to see if this is actually the case; based upon its structure, it seems very plausible.

I will be continuing to do more tests with other hitches involving this pieces of hardware, and my hope is that i might discover an even better design for a friction hitch!

 

[Knotorious]

Here's a video that won't be posted for awhile, but I wanted to share it so that I could demonstrate a new potential intro that I can use for all of my videos going forward. It starts slow with a basic slide show and some transitions and then accelerates with video clips of my previous videos cycling to the beat of the song.

The video itself is about the S.C.A.M. Retrievable Redirect, which was created by a guy called Free Fallin on YouTube. I give him credit in the description for the video and accurately demonstrate the method. All you need is a pulley-biner like the Revolver Rig or Roll Clip Z (or even just a carabiner with a pulley attached), your rope, and the same carabiner you are using to connect your climbing device to your bridge (which is recommended to be an HMS style/Pear shaped carabiner.

Alrighty! Enjoy!

Special thanks to @Kaveman for helping me edit out a pointless segment of this video. But he hasn't seen the new intro yet!

(At least just watch the intro and let me know what you think!)

EDIT: Yes, I shake a lot. Not sure if I've mentioned this on here yet, but I have in my comments section...I have had an ongoing struggle wtih a Vitamin B deficiency which causes me to shake. I honestly do not even really notice it until after I've filmed a video and watched it or after some asshat on YouTube makes it their life's purpose to point it out to me aggressively with comments like "do another line" lol

 

[Kaveman]

New intro needs a bit of work. Is good, can be better.
Nice stock photos of trees, but get some photos that you took of real trees up, break up that Google stuff.
Montage is nice, but visually repetitive. That's something you'll have to work with, reordering those same clips can work, but you need to play with it some to break it up.

 

[Knotorious]

New intro needs a bit of work. Is good, can be better.
Nice stock photos of trees, but get some photos that you took of real trees up, break up that Google stuff.
Montage is nice, but visually repetitive. That's something you'll have to work with, reordering those same clips can work, but you need to play with it some to break it up.

It's not really a montage because each of the 32 clips in the second segment of the intro were cut from 9 different videos, so it would more accurately be called a "mashup." I appreciate your feedback, but I don't think there's any way I could make it less repetitive considering the clips are already highly randomized. In the second segment of the intro, you saw 32 unique cuts from 9 different, unrelated videos in 15 seconds. That's pretty diverse if you ask me.

What, specifically, made it feel repetitive to you? I had climbing clips, hitch testing clips, redirect clips, rappelling clips, hitch tying clips, knots tying clips, clips of me with various hardware/software, clips of different climbing systems, pictures of me on the ground, etc.

I do agree that I could do better as far as the first part of the intro. If I had access to more trees to film originally, I would be in a good position to replace the stock footage with original, moving footage. I'll give it a try today with the limited assortment of trees at my disposal. I'll see what I can do. Thanks for your input.

 

[Knotorious]

I suppose I could add more movement to the clips with zooming in and out or panning side to side with each clip in order to make it more random.

 

[Knotorious]

My channel is kicking off, boy and girls!

Let's look at my stats for the last 28 days...

Views: 80.4K (32.8K more than usual)
Likes: 2,551
Watch time (in hours): 2.1K (837.5 more than usual)
Subscribers: 466 (56 more than usual)
Shares: 508
Revenue: $130.74 (34% more than usual) and tomorrow I expect that to increase since I posted a Short that I believe will be popular
Views (per every 48 hours): This ranges between 4,000-10,000, but the average is around 6,500 (if I had to guess)

My total subscriber count for the lifetime (entirety) of my channel (after 1.25 years): 6,092 subscribers

The graph below that's being shown is for revenue. One of the most amounts of money I've ever made on one day happened during the last 28 days at an amount of $7.60 (third peak from the left), and three other days peaking between $5.86-$6.59.



I'm really excited that my channel is getting more and more exposure on YouTube and that more people are genuinely enjoying my channel. My growth is admittedly pretty slow compared to many other YouTube channels, but that mostly has to do with the fact that my channel is about a very niche area of climbing and most people really aren't interested in my type of content. I really don't care. It's more about educating people and giving my ideas and concepts the ability to be seen and enjoyed by people throughout the world.

Anyways, thanks for reading this! Just wanted to update everyone since I didn't start a channel until after joining this forum, so you all have seen my entire progression.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

I suppose I could add more movement to the clips with zooming in and out or panning side to side with each clip in order to make it more random.

When I find this style of intro, i just shut down the vid. It's unwatchable, especially if that's a bunch of very short clips glued together. Big no-no for me, no matter how interesting the content could be (for me).

 

[Knotorious]

When I find this style of intro, i just shut down the vid. It's unwatchable, especially if that's a bunch of very short clips glued together. Big no-no for me, no matter how interesting the content could be (for me).

I really appreciate your comment! This is the last time I'll ever use a long intro like this one. After posting the video, I got two additional comments from others saying to shorten or omit the intro. In fact, I'm so concerned about its potential to keep others like yourself from enjoying the video that I'm going to edit it out on YouTube (you can cut out sections of a video after posting it, but you cannot add anything).

You comment officially has me now going to crop out the intro. Thanks, @Marc-Antoine, for your input!

 

[Knotorious]

I made a compromise because the music would have made no sense if I had cropped the entire intro out, so I cut out the stock images (which is probably wise any ways because I might have incurred a copyright strike since I didn't take any of those pictures and my video is monetized, so I'm profiting from the video) and now have the video beginning with the 32 footage cuts. So that's going to hopefully make my video 50% less likely to have the intro skipped. The video is already performing well, though, so that's good. It might take awhile before the changes are officially done by YouTube.

 

[Kaveman]

Lolz! The power of youtube!

Thou shall heed thy audience, lest thee suffer.

 

[Knotorious]

Lolz! The power of youtube!

Thou shall heed thy audience, lest thee suffer.

YouTube is 100% about audience retention. If I don't heed my viewer's wishes to a large extent, my viewership will certainly suffer. One of the metrics that the algorithm uses is CTR (click-through rate), which measures what percentage of viewers will stay and watch the video beyond the 30 second mark.

If I have my intro lasting 30 seconds the way it was, it's very possible that viewers, such as @Marc-Antoine and others, will simply click through the video to some other video. People's attention span for watching videos in 2024 is much shorter than in previous eras. With so much content existing on YouTube, people have no problem clicking through a video because they know so much other, potentially better content awaits them.

Therefore, the commenter, in my opinion, is king...with the exception of trolls of course. That doesn't stop me from trying out new editing methods or new content types and styles, but for me it's pretty obvious what the viewers want. First time every, I try adding a nifty new intro and it gets overwhelmingly rejected. Never again.

 

[Knotorious]

Quick 1 minute video about the Comfort Padding for Treemotion harnesses/saddles, documenting my first time ever applying my body weight to it.

 

[Knotorious]

New Knotorious Study of Throwlines and "I Want YOU" (with Uncle Sam energy) to Contribute to My Efforts!

I've been logging throwline knots for about 3 months now and, interestingly, many of them have the same slipknot structure. While some are more aggressive than others, there are many that appear much more frequently than others and can be easily slipped, if done properly, allowing the untying of the knot.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed that their throwlines tend to spontaneously produce the same or similar slipped midline slipknots the way that I have, but I think that this is really fascinating and speaks to how the construct of knots in a seemingly chaotic and random environment is actually not so random afterall.

Once I have a larger dataset of photos and knots, I'll share my findings with the forum and on my YouTube channel. I still have much analysis to do. If anyone else would like to help me add to my findings by photographing any truly random knots that occur in their throw lines, I would be eternally grateful for you assistance with this project.

No rat's nests or huge messes of knots. I'm looking for base knots with no more than a few layers of complexity or ANY knot that is naturally produced in the middle of a throwline after one throw.

Believe it or KNOT, the study of knots that have been randomly produced using chaotic and unpredictable forces is something that is hugely popular within the realm of topology, so I am not the first to examine this type of knot science. However, I am the first, as far as I know, to apply this area of topology to throwlines and the unique physics and dynamics therein!

Please post any photos with the hashtag #ThrowLineKnots at the very top of your entry so that I can easily find them using the forum search engine.

Thank you to anyone who adds to my research. It would be greatly appreciate!

 

[lxskllr]

One knot? The only choices I get offered are no knots, and all the knots, with the latter being the most popular option by far.