A few weeks ago our Senior Patrol Leader put together a climbing activity at the Student Life & Wellness Center on the beautiful campus of Utah Valley University. Their climbing wall is excellent and the staff is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. The first thing that they did when we arrived was to pull aside all those who would be belaying, I was a member of this group. The instructor went over the safety rules and after issuing us a harness took us to the wall.

The wall is set up with a top-rope system. This allows the climber to not worry about the belaying rope as it is static and ready. The climbing rope passes through the anchor system at the top of the wall and has two ends coming down. The section of rope farthest from the rope is for the belayer. The section of rope that is closest to the wall is for the climber, this is where we will tie the figure eight follow-through knot.

The instructor gave this example of how to tie this knot

• We want to use a good amount of rope, about the length from our hand to our cheek with our arm reached out.

• Next, we want to make our Space Alien’s head

• I’m not a fan of Space Aliens, so I’m going to wrap the rope around his neck and poke him in the eye with the end. (i know… shocking… scouts are usually kind to all creature…even Space Aliens)

• Pull through and tight and you should have your figure eight knot

• Next, feed the end of the rope through your harness or carabiner and feed the end of the knot through the figure eight. Pretend that your tracing the knot.

• The end of your rope should follow the figure eight exactly until you reach the end. Pull the knot tight and your ready to go.

Just in the case that these detailed Space Alien involved instructions need a visual explanation, we made a video on how to tie this knot.

Another tip that our instructor gave us was this final thought. “If you have any doubt about your knot, re-tie it. Better to be safe than sorry.”

Stay safe and have fun!