Anchoring a Horizontal Pole to a Hard Point

Begin with a Lark’s Head around the bamboo

Place your forefinger through the hard point

Run the upline over top of your finger

Turn your palm face up and hook the tail

Pull the tail through

Run the tail down to the bamboo

And around

Run the tail back up to the hard point

And through using the same technique shown above

Make sure that your uplines are parallel and have even tension

Bring the tail back down to the bamboo and around a second time

I happen to have quite a lot of rope left over so I have two options to use it up before I lock this off with the Vine

If you have enough rope to go back up to the anchor point and back down again with enough left over to lock it off with a vine, you may as well do that. Using up rope with long runs is far more efficient and fast. So in this case I have run it up to the hard point one more time. Note that this time because my hard point is relatively narrow, I do need to lay this run on top of the others; this is OK.

Then back down and around the bamboo with third time. Now I am left with all the 1-2’ (30-60cm) left, which I will use to lock it off

Bring the tail around the top of the bamboo, and across the front of all the cords.

Reach behind the center line with the other hand to grab the tail and continue wrapping around the entire bundle of cords that make up your upline

Use your other hand to hold the center line steady so that you can pull the tail very tightly as you wrap it

If you need to switch your grip, feel free to do so

Once you have two or three firm wraps all the way around all the uplines…

… Put your fingers between half of the ropes as shown

Grab the tail

And pull the tail through the middle of the ropes

Pull that new wrap tight and then push it down into the previous wraps

So it is very firmly seated

Then continue wrapping

Again, hold the center line with your other hands you could make the wraps very tight

Adding this interstitial dramatically increases the friction of this technique and it protects the wrap from working itself loose if the hard point is on a pivot or swivel

After you have made a few more wraps you could add another one going in between the uplines. But if your ropes have knots at the end like mine do, this is also a nice way to end off the wrap.

Again reached through the cords, it can be a different set than you used the first time...

And grab the tail

And pull it through. If your rope ends are uneven as you see here, just do it again

Reach through the middle of the ropes again to grab the remaining tail

And pull it through. Done!

The more force that is on this arrangement, the more the upline cords will grip the ends of the rope running through them

Now, if your ropes do not have a knot at the end like mine do, or if you would just like to add a bit of additional security, you can use the same technique in combination with a Half-Hitch to lock things off even more strongly.

To do this, put your fingers between the uplines and then run the tail over top of those fingers…

… Then grip the tails

And pull them through.

Tighten. This arrangement is extremely stable under load.

If you happen to have a little bit of rope left over, just use it up by vining it through the middle again. Run your fingers through the rope

Grab the tail with those fingers

Like this

And then pull the final bit through

Done!

Under heavy load you may notice some tendency to twist or deflect (note that my anchor point has twisted somewhat under load), but that should not affect the strength of this connection

So I’m starting back with step 13

I have a lot of rope to use up, but this time instead of running all the way back up to the anchor point, I will use up another way

This time I’ll run it over top of the bamboo

Then reach around the center line to grab the tail

Wrap that tail around the center line to the other side of the bamboo

Then underneath the bamboo

And around the top of the bamboo on the same side

Then across the strands of the bamboo again

…

And then down the other side

Then around the bottom of the bamboo

And continuing this same pattern until only have 1-2’ (30-60cm) left

Now I can’t lock it off in exactly the same flying technique that I used above

Run the tail around the center line again, wrapping it twice

Gripping the wraps that you have made, pull the tail very tightly to seat your ropes

Continuing to hold the centerline, wrap one more time again tightly

Somewhere above your wrap (where the ropes are looser and easier to work with), put your fingers between the two sets of cords

Slide those fingers down and grab the tail

Pull the tail through between the two sets of uplines

Pull the tail tightly and then using your other hand push that new wrap down into the wraps you are already made

Make sure this new wrap is seated very firmly and tightly

Should look like this

Make another wrap or two above the interstitial

Then grip the center line and pull the tail very tightly to seat the next set of wraps

Again, push those wraps down into the wraps you’ve already made

You now have a very firm grip both above and below the interstitial which adds a significant degree of additional friction to your knot

If you happen to have more rope, you can repeat this same thing more than once (although I’m not going to talk you through it this time)

…

…

…

…

When you get to the end of your tail, lock it off. If you have knots in the end of your rope, you can do so simply by running the tail between your uplines

…

Like this

Done!

If you do not have knots in the end of your rope (or just have a personal preference), you can lock this off with a Half-Hitch as is shown above in ending version 1, Steps 36-40

We will start with a classic Single Column around the piece of bamboo

Wrap around three times, being sure to keep the cords parallel (not twisted or lying on top of each other)

We need a little space between the ropes and the bamboo to work. So I’m going to slide my fingers underneath the cords

Lay the bight over top of all the wraps

Reach under the wraps from the other side to hook the bight

And pull it through

Now lay it over top of the wraps again…

… be sure to lay it over top of itself as well

We have been ignoring the tail up until now but here it is

Now pick up the tail with your palm down

And flip your hand over to create a loop

Reach through that loop

To grab the bight

And pull the bight through the loop

Tighten

You now have completed the Single Column around the bamboo. But we are not going to use it just like this

Now you will see some readers use of this loop as part of the suspension up line itself. When used like that, it is called a lift loop. There is nothing wrong with that approach, but it is not one that I prefer. So, since we are not going to use it for suspension directly, let’s lock it off so that it cannot come untied without releasing the tail. To do that, reach through the loop of the bight….

…Grab the tail

…And pull the tail through the bight.

Notice that we tied the Single Column with a bit of space between the bamboo and the wraps. We’re going to need that

With your hand palm down, put your forefinger through the hard point and run the tail up and over top of that finger

Then flip your hand and hook the rope, then pull it through the hard point

Bring the tail back down to your Single Column

Reach underneath the Single Column with your other hand to hook the tail

And pull the tail through

Again put your finger through the hard point and then run the tail up and over top of that finger

Hook your finger and pull the tail through the hard point and come back down to the Single Column

Again reach under the Single Column with your other hand to hook the tail…

…and pull it through. Throughout this process of creating the up line, keep your cords parallel and evenly tension. You don’t want them laying on top of themselves or being twisted if you can avoid it

There are many ways to lock this arrangement off. (Don’t do this now because I’m going to show you in different technique, but we could use the “vine” technique just as a shown above.) To do that we would begin wrapping around the center line…

(Again, don’t do this now. It is just shown for context) …Wrapping around a few times and then going between the cords, and continue wrapping etc.

But let’s do this a different way, using the same technique we use for a bamboo suspension friction. So, resetting my position to where I was in Step 29, my left hand is behind the center line and is holding the tail on the opposite side of the center line from my body.

With your right hand, grab the tail between the Single Column and your left hand

Pull the tail toward you with your right hand. Your left hand may allow the tail to slide a little but should not let go. You will form this upside-down “number 4” shape

With your left hand, bring the tail around the back side of the center line

Feed the tail to your right hand

Maintaining tension on the tail with your left hand, hook the tail with your right forefinger and pull the tail through

Pull the tail all the way through and maintain tension with your right hand

We now need to tighten this half hitch. Using your left hand (the right hand is busy maintaining the tension), grip the entire centerline (including the tail) below the half hitch…

And slide that left hand upwards to tighten the half-hitch

With your hand palm down, put your forefinger through the hard point and run the tail up and over top of that finger. Then flip your hand to hook the rope and pull it through the hard point

Maintain tension on the tail using your right hand.

With your left hand, reach behind the center lines

Using your right hand, feed the tail to your left hand. Your left hand now grips the tail maintaining the tension

Put your right forefinger between the center line and the tail

Twist your right hand so that your forefinger points straight up, and hook the tail with that finger. Pull the tail toward you with your right hand. Your left hand may allow the tail to slide a little but should not let go. You will form this “number 4” shape

With your left hand, bring the tail around the back side of the center line

Still using your left hand, lay the tail on top of your right forefinger

Maintaining tension on the tail with your left hand, turn your right hand so that your palm faces the center line. You can now a form a hook with your right forefinger…

…and pull the tail through the half hitch to form a small loop

We now need to tighten this half hitch, and we are going to do so by sliding the entire half hitch down. Don’t try to move any of the rope downward quite yet, but let go with your left hand

…and grip the entire centerline (including the tail) above the half hitch. Then slide your *left* hand downward on the centerline to tighten the half hitch.

Your right hand does not make the loop larger; it just goes along for the ride, maintaining the loop and the tension while the left hand slides down, tightening the entire assembly… Tighten it very tight.

This knot is now sufficient to hold the tail in place so that the friction above maintains a lock on all the cords of your up line.

Gravity is now working in our favor and not fighting us to keep this knot tight

Notice with this technique that any force on the bamboo is distributed across six strands of the cuff …

…and then at least 6-8 strands in the upline.