Double Overhand Knot

The Double Overhand Knot is a popular and easy-to-tie knot used to tie two ropes together for rappelling. It has less bulk than other rappel knots like the double figure-8 fisherman’s knot so it is less likely to get stuck in cracks when you pull your rappel ropes. Never use this knot with ropes of different diameters since at least one fatal accident has occurred when the thinner rope worked out of the knot. Alternatively you can tie a double figure-8 knot instead of the overhand knot, although testing at Black Diamond’s Salt Lake City lab, after an accident in Zion National Park in 2003 when a climber fell 200+ feet after his double figure-8 came untied, indicates that the double overhand is stronger than the double figure-8 knot.