Mule Knot

The mule knot is very useful if you want to lock off a belay device or a Munter Hitch, which can come in handy if you just want to stay in one place during a rappel (fixing gear), in a rescue situation, or if you have to escape a loaded belay.

1. Keep tension on the rope with your breaking hand (pictured on the right), you shouldn't have to let the rope slip through the belay device.

2. Take a loop from the rope in your breaking hand and pass it through the carabiner, keep tension on the rope.

3. Below is a picture of step 2 completed.

4. Increase the size of the bite of rope that you just pulled through.

5. Create two oposing loops with the bite of rope that was just pulled through in step 4.

6. Posistion one loop on one side of the rope and the other loop on the oposite side of the rope.

7. The loop on the left is passed through the loop on the right, and pull tight.

8. Finished. It is very strongly recomended to tie a safety knot with the free loop, or clip a biner on the loop and the weighted rope to eliminate the possibility of it comming undone.

Related Pages

• Escaping The Belay
• Knots