How to Tie a Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot

Bridge: Rock climbing is an excellent workout that not only demands peak performance from the body, but from the mind as well. While your entire body is clinging to the surface of a rock face, and even your fingertips are getting tired, your mind must be judging where your next hold will be, and how to position your body so that you don’t lose your balance and fall off the wall.

Before even setting foot on the wall, however, you need to secure yourself to the rope using a Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot.

Teacher Objectives: Encourage excitement about rock-climbing through a simple knot exercise.

Student Objectives: Students will be able to tie a Figure Eight Knot and a Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot using the following steps:

(1) Create a Figure Eight Knot by making an alien head, tying a knot around it’s neck, and stabbing it in the eye.

(2) Loop the rope through the carabineer and trace the figure eight all the way through to create the Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot.

(3) Safety check by making sure that there are 5 pairs of parallel ropes.

Pretest: Ask students (1) which knots they are familiar with, (2) if they have ever gone rock climbing, and (3) can the describe the knot used to secure the climber to the rope.

Participation: Students will practice tying a Figure Eight Knot, then secure the rope to a carabineer using a Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot. Students can practice on each end of the rope, allowing two students to participate at once. The other students will help direct.

Posttest: Students will recall the steps required to make both a Figure Eight Knot and a Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot (see “Student Objectives”).

Summary: Before you ever go rock-climbing, you will need to be certified not only on how to tie a Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot, but also on how to properly wear a harness and some basic rock-climbing commands. However, not every instructor teaches the Figure Eight Follow-Through Knot using the “alien head” explanation, but I find that this is the best way to remember it. Even years later, I always think of stabbing the alien in the eye when making my knot.