blake's hitch

The other day, I read an amazing article by Richard Preston, the guy who wrote The Mountains of Pi. This one's called Climbing the Redwoods. Every new paragraph contains an astonishment. Simply a must read. Read it! You must!

One thing that caught my eye was the Blake's Hitch. It's a new knot that was developed by a tree surgeon in 1990. I like the idea that the art of knotting is still alive and growing. When I was a kid I had to learn the various knots that would be useful for my future as an outdoorsman (however remote that future may be — the endless roads of youth's yellow wood!). I learned the Clove Hitch, the Square Knot, on and on. Very useful stuff. But I guess I always figured these things were worked out by outdoorsmen, sailors, pirates, soldiers, and other manly men centuries ago, and it had never occurred to me that there were serious new knots being added to the body of knowledge.

I give you, then, the Blake's Hitch!

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