Practical uses in an emergency

Pitching a tarp or shelter

Shelter design is in chapter 5. This is the rope part:

1. Ridgeline: tie one end of the rope to a tree with a bowline or a round turn and two half hitches, and tension the other with a trucker's hitch.
2. Tarp on the ridgeline: fix the corner grommets to the ridgeline with prusiks; this way you can stretch it without taking anything apart.
3. Guy lines and corners: each corner to a stake with an adjustable-grip hitch. If a grommet tears, wrap a small stone in the edge of the tarp and tie with a cow hitch or a clove hitch around the bundle.
4. Check the tension after it rains or the temperature drops: nylon ropes loosen when wet.

Hanging food

Bears, raccoons, coyotes, and rodents are drawn by smell. Hang food, trash, and scented items (toothpaste, sunscreen) away from where you sleep.

1. Find a healthy branch that puts the bag 12 ft (3.7 m) off the ground, 6 ft (1.8 m) from the trunk, and 6 ft (1.8 m) below the branch.
2. Throw the rope over the branch with a stone tied to the end (in a small bag and with a clove hitch or two half hitches). Make sure no one is underneath.
3. Tie the bag with a bowline or a figure-eight loop.
4. Hoist it up and tie the other end to another tree with a round turn and two half hitches.
5. Where rules require it, use bear-proof containers or the campground's metal lockers: hanging is not always enough.

Lifeline when crossing

River crossings, when not to cross, and how to do it are explained in chapter 13. What applies to ropes:

• A rope stretched from bank to bank serves as a handrail to lean on, not to hang from. Tie it at one end with a round turn and two half hitches and tension it at the other with a trucker's hitch, both on healthy trees and above the water level.
• Stretch it diagonally, with the starting point upstream and the arrival point downstream: if someone slips and holds on, the current pushes them along the rope toward the arrival bank.
• Never tie yourself to the rope or to another person in moving water. If you fall, the taut rope keeps you underwater.
• If you doubt the depth or the strength of the current, do not cross (see chapter 13).

Securing cargo on a car or roof

1. Respect the maximum weight of the roof bars given in the vehicle manual.
2. Load heavy items low and centered; cover with a tarp and tie down over it.
3. Use at least two tie-downs across and one lengthwise so nothing slides forward when braking.
4. Tie one end with a bowline or a round turn and two half hitches to the bar, and tension the other with a trucker's hitch. Protect the rope where it rubs on sharp edges.
5. Check the tie-downs after a few minutes of driving and at every stop: the load settles and the rope loosens.
6. Leave no loose ends that hit the paint or get caught in the wheels.

Clothesline

Between two trees or posts: a bowline at one end and an adjustable-grip hitch or trucker's hitch at the other. So the clothes do not bunch up in the middle, hang them from prusiks or from alpine butterfly loops spaced along the rope. Use it also to dry socks and underwear (wet feet cause injuries; see chapter 14).