How do you do an Alpine Butterfly? (type of knot)?

Question

I need to know how to do an alpine butterfly so that I can qualify for my Abseiling and Caving Certificates.

Answer 1

Animatedknots.com is about the coolest thing for learning knots. They list the alpine butterfly. The visual is much better then describing how to do it. Lets us know how it went for you.

Answer 2

An excellent knot. I most often use it for tying someone into the middle of the rope, and sometimes for building anchors. Easy to undo, and can take weight from 3 directions.

The way shown above works, although I prefer to do it by twisting a loop once, then a second time, then fold the loop back over the 2 twists, and up through the hole between the 2 twists. Either way it still takes 2 hands. I wonder if there is a way to tie it with only one hand, like you can with a clove hitch on a biner?

Answer 3

The links below show how to tie the butterfly knot. The Wikipedia entry shows a very quick, easy way to tie it by wrapping coils of rope around your hand, etc. This way is much easier than the commonly illustrated way of twisting the rope around, etc. I learned to tie it this way from guides on Mt. Rainier in the States.