How to Make Four Different Climbing Rope Coils for Different Circumstances

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“Become a master of a tool, and use it well.”

“Have many tools in your toolbox so that you can choose the right tool for the job.”

These seem to be very contradictory pieces of advice. In a climbing context, I would liken this to knowing how to tie a particular knot or hitch and using it all the time as opposed to knowing several friction hitches. On the plus side of this strategy, we likely would tie this knot close to perfectly every time. We would have so much practice. But the downside is that the friction hitch we know might knot work as well with certain materials (or the like).

Let’s say the hitch we are talking about is the Klemheist. Conventional wisdom will tell you that the Klemheist only holds when pulled in one direction. The reality is that it will often hold when pulled in the other direction. But now let’s say that we are using a Dyneema sling to tie the Klemheist. Dyneema is a slippery material; that’s part of why is is so resistant to abrasion. But, if we only knew one hitch, so we tied a Klemheist, but had to use it in a situation where it needed to hold in multiple directions, and had a Dyneema sling as our available material, we risk the hitch failing.

So, I personally don’t subscribe to the notion of ‘do one thing and do it really well.’

That being said, I think it is often the case that, when we are beginners, we need to learn a smaller number of techniques and ensure we perform those techniques well. But as we advance, I believe mastery of a technique includes knowing when not to apply it.

There is another old saying: “If you are a hammer, everything is a nail.” If we are limited in our tool set, we risk misapplying that tool in circumstances when it is not best applied. In climbing, misapplication could prove to be dangerous.

So, while we all “need to start somewhere” with learning the small set of initial techniques we can retain as we begin climbing, there comes a time as we transition from beginner to intermediate where we need to diversify our techniques and learn to apply them in different (and more beneficial) circumstances. The some total of all of these little risk reductions - choosing the best technique for a circumstance - is a significant reduction in risk.

That’s the impetus behind this video. Even in something as simple as coiling our rope, there are times when I choose one coiling method over another.