Make a stopper knot semi-permanent

Knots
Written By John Godino
 
zip tier and stopper knot.JPG

My local climbing gym, does this this on the belay end of every top rope. Pretty crafty! It’s not a tip for an everyday climbing situation, but hey, it might come in handy.

If you want to make a stopper knot semi-permanent, one way to do it is to run a zip tie through the knot and crank it down. The knot will be pretty much impossible to untie without cutting the zip tie.

  • Top roping with beginners all day and you want to be sure the rope system is “closed”, by always having a knot in the end of the rope?

  • Making a DIY lanyard with something like the Kong Slyde (or replacing the thick 9.5 rope in your Petzl Connect Adjust with something thinner, like 8 mm, hint hint) and need a permanent blocking knot in the end of the rope?

  • Ropes course?

  • Zip line?

  • Tree swing?

  • Caving?

  • SAR teams?

  • Riggers?

  • Window washers?

Who else might have a need for this?

 
John Godino
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