DISQUS

Crazy Nut Job: Crazy Nut Job - My fiancée learned to tie a bowline tonight. If...

  • squashed · 1 month ago
    A bowline? Sexy?

    It's a rescue not. It doesn't slip. It can create a loop of fixed size. You can't tighten it. It has all the sexy potential of a square-knot.

    For a truly sexy knot, consider sailor's handcuffs. (I'd offer to teach your fiancée--but that totally wouldn't sound right.)

    Hmm. I think I have a brother/Eagle Scout in your part of California. I could send him by for a knot-tying lesson. He's kind of oblivious and might not catch on.
  • crazynutjob · 1 month ago
    You see it as only a bowline. I see it as a first step into a bigger world.
  • hilker · 1 month ago
    that's hawt. you're rock climbing, right? going beyond the ol' figure eight? good man.

    i was a climbing instructor for a while in high school and while i never taught the bowline (we weren't allowed to) i used it myself frequently. when asked about it, i always said it was an "advanced" knot and i'd teach them when they started lead climbing (an arbitrary milestone which few of them ever reached).
  • crazynutjob · 1 month ago
    It's just my general purpose knot. It works well in sailing and camping, and can be tied with wet/cold hands or hands with gloves. It came up because she tied some ridiculous knot that was a real pain to untie with cold hands. I can tie it with mittens on, which makes it better than a lot of alternatives in many situations. I don't suppose mittens come up much in climbing, though.
  • hilker · 1 month ago
    mittens while climbing? not if you want to live. for one, it's not real safe. we'll also mock you to death if you try it.

    a pre-wedding wedding toast: "May your knot-tying expertise be best at work as you tie *the* knot. Here here!"