Bachmann knot
Encyclopedia
The Bachmann is a friction hitch
. It is useful when the friction hitch needs to be reset quickly/often or made to be self-tending as in crevasse and self-rescue. (See Prusik knot)
The Bachmann requires the use of a carabiner
. It does not matter if the carabiner is locking or not. Most importantly, the carabiner must be of round cross section for friction. Grabbing hold of the carabiner will release the friction and allow the hitch to slide freely and thus be moved appropriately. To remove the Bachmann, just unclip the top loop, hold onto the carabiner and pull the cord free.
This knot is frequently tied using a sling made from 1" tubular webbing. In this case wrap the webbing 3 times around the rope (this means the carabiner gate must be opened 3 times in the tying of the knot) for normal (dry) applications . There are a limited number of applications that involve repeated shock loads to the knot and in these 4 wraps are usually sufficient.
However, with non-locking carabiner it is safer to use the knot with carabiner gate opening facing down (opposite to what is shown in the picture). This decreases the risk of self-unclipping: at maximum, one twist goes off. Otherwise, the whole knot may fail.
Friction hitch
A friction hitch is a kind of knot used to attach one rope to another in a way that is easily adjusted. These knots are commonly used in Single Rope Technique while climbing to ascend a hanging rope by alternately hanging on one friction hitch and sliding the other up...
. It is useful when the friction hitch needs to be reset quickly/often or made to be self-tending as in crevasse and self-rescue. (See Prusik knot)
The Bachmann requires the use of a carabiner
Carabiner
A carabiner or karabiner is a metal loop with a sprung or screwed gate that is used to quickly and reversibly connect components in safety-critical systems. The word comes from "Karabinerhaken", meaning "hook for a carbine" in German.-Use:...
. It does not matter if the carabiner is locking or not. Most importantly, the carabiner must be of round cross section for friction. Grabbing hold of the carabiner will release the friction and allow the hitch to slide freely and thus be moved appropriately. To remove the Bachmann, just unclip the top loop, hold onto the carabiner and pull the cord free.
This knot is frequently tied using a sling made from 1" tubular webbing. In this case wrap the webbing 3 times around the rope (this means the carabiner gate must be opened 3 times in the tying of the knot) for normal (dry) applications . There are a limited number of applications that involve repeated shock loads to the knot and in these 4 wraps are usually sufficient.
However, with non-locking carabiner it is safer to use the knot with carabiner gate opening facing down (opposite to what is shown in the picture). This decreases the risk of self-unclipping: at maximum, one twist goes off. Otherwise, the whole knot may fail.