Here we have a common situation where we two straps we want to attach to with our upline.

Bring your new upline and run the primary bight under both straps.

Pull primary bight through far enough that you have some with which work.

Position the primary bight above the straps.

Now pull the part of the rope between the two straps up away from the body to form a secondary bight.

Lay that secondary bight on top of your fingers, next to the primary bight.

Grab the tail.

And reverse it’s tension…

…laying it on top of your fingers next to the strands of the primary and secondary bights.

As shown above, this is the starting point for several common Single Columns. Again, I will use my preferred approach: the Somerville Bowline.

…

This can be used in this state (only because we locked it off with a Somerville Bowline).

Confirm that the legs are of equal length.

Choose what you will do with the bight. (See “Options for the Bight” above).

This line is now ready to be run up to the hard point.