One-Handed Bowline Knot | How to tie a One-Handed Bowline

Animation: One-Handed Bowline Tying

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One-Handed Bowline Tying

With the rope round your back, hold about half a meter of the short end in your hand. Hook the standing end with your thumb to form a loop around your hand. Pass the short end round the standing end and pull it back through the loop. Secure the end with an overhand knot to the loop.

One-Handed Bowline Details

Uses: The One-Handed Bowline (ABOK # 1010, p 186.) is a quick, useful way to tie a bowline when the other hand is occupied or injured. There are three main steps:

Hold the short end and create a loop around your hand.
Pass the short end round the standing end.
Still holding the short end, withdraw your hand from the loop.

The animation illustrates the climber's viewpoint with the rope passed round his/her back. Because a bowline can shake loose, it is completed with a final overhand knot tied to the loop of the bowline.

Caution: a sudden strain while tying this knot could trap your wrist. For this reason, it is safer to form the loop around your hand rather than risk the whole wrist.

Alternative Stopper Knots for the Bowline: to see more details about the bowline as well as other methods of securing it, see the Bowline Page.

Disclaimer: Any activity that involves ropes is potentially hazardous. Lives may be at risk - possibly your own. Considerable attention and effort have been made to ensure that these descriptions are accurate. However, many critical factors cannot be controlled, including: the choice of materials; the age, size, and condition of ropes; and the accuracy with which these descriptions have been followed. No responsibility is accepted for incidents arising from the use of this material.

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One-Handed Bowline

One-Handed Bowline Tying

One-Handed Bowline Details

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