Clove hitch

Clove hitch is an essential knot used for its adjustability and reliability. It is employed for instance in anchor building, offsetting a belay station for belaying of the second climber, and for self-attaching to the anchor point with a rope.

Clove hitch
Use(s)	Anchor building, (self-)attaching to an anchor, belay station offsetting and more
Pros	Fast, simple, robust, easily adjustable
Cons	In specific cases the hitch might get stuck. It is prone to slip slightly under higher loads. Due to the chance of slippage, it is strongly recommended to back it up in critical applications.
Category	Hitch
Strength	Breaks: polyamid ~50-60%, 6mm aramid ~35%. Can slip at lower loads in some cases.

Tying

Easy method

This method is very robust. Suitable for learning how to tie the hitch.

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  Take two bights of a rope next to each other (1)

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  Form loops out of them by rotating them counterclockwise (2)

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  Form a hitch by moving the right loop over the left one without any rotation (3)

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  Pull a carabiner through the loops (4)

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  Tighten the knot by sequentially pulling the rope ends (5,6) and lock the gate (7)

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  Inspect the knot and the carabiner gate (8)

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  Rope ends (pink) leave the knot in the opposing directions from inside of the loop underneath the carabiner (lime)

One-hand method

Non-crucial, but handy once you have only one hand free. Always use the hand at the same side as the gate is facing.

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  Start with a rope through a carabiner with the gate pointing towards right

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  Grab the rear rope strand from the left side by your right hand, thumb pointing down

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  Rotate the hand into a thumb-up position, making a loop (1)

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  Position the rope in a way, that the rope end coming from the top of your hand goes from the carabiner's front towards its back (2)

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  Push the rope coming from the top of your hand through the gate (3)

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  Tighten the knot by sequentially pulling the rope ends (4,5), and lock the gate (6)

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  Inspect the knot and the carabiner gate (8)

Quick repositioning

One of the strongest points of the clove hitch is that it can be quickly repositioned without cancelling the setup, or opening the carabiner on which it is tied.

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  Loosen the knot by pulling the middle strand between the two loops (1)

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  Pull only one of the strands (2)

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  The knot got repositioned

Slippage

Table of slipping forces (*=breaks):

Material	Force (kN)
7.9 mm 1/2 rope	6.5
8.9 mm triple-rated rope	7.8
8 mm Dyneema®	3.0
11 mm Dyneema®	5.1
19 mm polyamid	10.1*
6 mm accessory cord	6.9

The clove hitch generally does not slip below 6 kN of force if you use a dynamic rope on a carabiner. Chance of the slipping is higher if the clove hitch is tied with a static rope, and/or around a big-diameter object (tree, smooth stone). There is a report of slow slippage already at 3 kN of force applied in case that an 8mm dyneema sling was tied on a carabiner. Therefore in critical applications such as anchor building, the clove hitch should be backed-up, otherwise it might slip off.

For detailed list of values, see the table on the right.