Alpine Butterfly

It may seem controversial that the next knot i introduce after Bowline and Round Turn Two Half Hitches is Alpine Butterfly. 

The reason so is to be as practical as possible. I want to be sharing the knots which i commonly use while camping. Not by the order of a book.

And the Alpine Butterfly is one which i find myself using in almost every instance.

Have you ever encountered this problem? You setup camp, changed into fresh clothing and wanted to tie a line to hang your clothes. You found two trees, got your rope, tied them across and hung your clothes only to realise that there isn’t enough tension on your line to hold them up. They are now hanging on a line so slack that your clothes are just barely above the ground.

Not good.

alpinebutterfly1

Clothes Line Problem

 

Knowing how to tie an Alpine Butterfly will help. The Alpine Butterfly adds a loop near the end of one tree. This allows the line to go round the tree, into the Alpine Butterfly loop and back to the tree for added tension on the line. 

Here is the illustration. 

alpine butterfly 2

Practical usage of Alpine Butterfly

 

Some benefits of using Alpine Butterfly:

  1. It can take load in any of the three directions
  2. Easy and quick to tie
  3. Can be tied without access to the ends of the rope

 

An Alpine Butterfly is quite easy to tie.

  1. First, with your palm facing up, loop the line three times round your palm making sure a “x” is formed at the back (pic 1)
  2. Use the line closest to your fingertips to go over and under the first two loops (pic 2 & 3)
  3. Let the line slide off your palm and continuing pulling till the alpine butterfly is formed (pic 4 & 5)
alpine butterfly how to tie

How To Tie Alpine Butterfly

 

Posted in Ropework For Hiking.

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