How to Tie a Self Tending Blake's Hitch (Best Blake's Hitch System) 

This technique is exactly what i was looking for

Well with me being a coal miner who doesn’t want to go back underground and just recently started a business trimming trees , you are one of my first climbing teachers. The lesson was free which made it that much better. I’m going to go make the house payment and put food on the table using this technique. Thank you so much man

Dear Bino; I'm 80 years young, getting information to successfully and safely climb to prune my backyard tree; my strength is far away from what it used to be, now thanks to you I know how to handle the tools and equipment efficiently. now I feel more confident

Anything in MRS that is self tending is a great thing to learn Thank you for taking the time to show different techniques

This is great! I've seen other videos on using a Blake's hitch, but this is far and away the best way to use it for minimal gear.

I love the straightforward knowledge you bring, and of course the music.

What a great way to add what you already have to your Climbin system. I Come across so many climbers that do not like single rope or unwilling to learn it and always ask for something alternative thanks bino.

Thanks Bino for the useful tutorial. So simple but great functioning.

I love that you can set this up with a single rope. Thank you for sharing!

This is so great that you shared this information on how to do this with very little gear. I like this method of climbing.now I need a harness

Thank you; very clear. Has given me an idea for when I'm cleaning flues on steep high roofs. I usually use a Klemheist but I may give that self-tending Blake Hitch a try.

I really like your explanation, it's worth a try. Gotta love any system that doesn't rely on extra working parts. One could even use it on the tail of a rope for a second point of attachment. I had to chuckle when you called that knot a bowline, and it is easy to see why. I would have call it a sheet bend, which is basically the same knot used to tie two ropes together. On the other hand, your description more accurately describes the big loop of rope formed through the working end of the line, the carabiner, bridge, and tail back to the knot.

I needed this an hour ago 😢. Oh well. Now I have it for next time! Your videos are giving me so many tools for the toolbox while I learn the ropes.

I’m new to climbing but been working with ropes and have been tying the bowline for many years. The thought of an in-line bowline has never occurred to me and I can think of many times it would have really come in handy. So far I’ve only climbed SRT but look forward to trying this method. Thanks Bino

This is what I am looking for, from the many videos on RU-vid that I am looking for, this is the simplest way I can do it. Thank you very much sir 🙂

Thank you! Love the channel!

Great work. Thank you.

I love your videos thanks for making them and sharing them with us.

Thank you a lot. You surely are helping many improve and learning things

Pretty awesome knot!! Thanks for the tip!!

Wow that’s a great way to use what one has. There are some many climbers that I come across that still want to climb MRS ..

That’s great! Other videos I’ve seen use a separate rope to tie a prusick to attach to working line. Your way eliminates the extra piece of rope.

Absolutely the best 🎉🎉

Love it. Very minimalistic which is always better IMHO.

Hi Bino, thanks for the great content in most of your training videos. I really appreciate it and I have learnt a lot from them. I found in this one though it was a bit vague in its content. By this I mean, when I finished watching it I didn't feel confident to go and try it. Perhaps it's just me. I am a largely self taught arborist that has been practising and learning arboriculture in the U.K.since lockdown started around March of 2020. So far I think I'm doing reasonably well. I am extremely grateful for training videos such as yours and other clearly very experienced and passionate tree surgeons. I think you guys are doing and do an amazing job. So once again I thank you and take my hat off to you. Back to the subject though on the above video of the self tending Blake's hitch I would have found a bit slower or maybe more of an explanation of the whole system set up from start to finish would have been more helpful. Apologies if that is not the level of content you were aiming to provide in this tutorial and I am being a bit too basic. It's just I would have liked a more thorough walk through your set up. For example explaining/showing how you were tied in at your saddle.... Although you did say how you were and the camera did pan in briefly on the union. Also explaining/showing what you meant by the split tail and how it integrates in to your set up. I have heard of a split tail but am not to familiar with it. Having said that I have watched your tutorial on how to make one. All said and done though once again I wish to reiterate how much I appreciate all the effort you put in to what you do. It has helped me no end. Best, absolute beginner (ab)

Ive used a double blake hitch before to self tend when pruning maples thats simpler thank you sir

Hi greetings from Thailand you are great teacher I learned a lot from you simple gears but work an exellent job

Thanks for video, what a cool way of using bowline knot!

I need to reel it back in and get to the basics. I’ve never climbed on a Blake’s hitch. This self tending approach or a split tail system looks reasonable for production. Maybe the old ways will help me better appreciate my rope runner or even improve my approach😎

Great video always learning from you 👍

Thank you amigo

I turned 56 the day after Christmas and I used to do this type of work when I was a young man. I was engaged to a girl who was killed in a car accident with 3 of her friends from high school and my life changed for the worst. Any way I have 5 pen oak's in my yard and I am going to try to top them. I have bought a good rope and a set of cheap spurs from Amazon and I have been looking for ideas that I can use to get the job done. I remember using the Blake's hitch because in 1984,85 we used a 1 rope system and your review of this is by far the best one i have seen on RU-vid 💯%thank you sir and God bless you and your family ✝️🇺🇲🇨🇦🙏🏼👍🏻

Thanks Bino

Works great!!

Bino this is impressive!!!

that is great, have to learn that one.

Perfect Thanks for sharing

Very clever . . .

Excelente video Bino , no entiendo inglés , jajaja pero la práctica hablo mas que las palabras 🫵🏻😎, el video que estaba buscando para ascender , aprendo mucho con tus videos , gracias por compartir , tu experiencia y conocimientos a los que estamos empezando en el tema , en mi caso de poda de árboles , saludos desde 🇨🇱

I'M NEW TO CLIMBING & TO BE HONEST, I HAVE ONE BIG TREE TO GET DOWN & SOME WORK ON MY CHIMNEY, THEN I'LL PROBABLY NEVER NEED THE GEAR AGAIN SO TO USE THIS TECHNIQUE SHOULD KEEP ME SAFE & SAVE ME MONEY! I ALSO MADE UP YOUR LIGHT LANYARD WITH THE BLAKES HITCH BY CUTTING OFF A YARD OF MY NEW CLIMBING ROPE. SO, THE ONLY THINGS I HAD TO BUY WAS A LONG ROPE, HARNESS, 2 BINERS & A PULL PRUNING SAW (I ALREADY HAVE A CHAINSAW AS I'VE HAD WOOD BURNING STOVES FOR YEARS.) THANKS FOR THIS BINO, IT'S ALL I NEED! (USED TO CLIMB/PRUNE THE BIG TREE FREESTYLE FROM A LADDER NO ROPE, NO LANYARD😱)

Ciao Bino, ottimi contenuti. bel video.

BRILLIANT !! JUST ABOUT THE LEAST AMOUNT OF GEAR YOU'LL NEED AND LOOKS LIKE YOU GET A DECENT PULL OUT OF IT.--GO BLAKES😎🌲

Great video. Thank you 👍👍👍

I like that..same type event deffrent hitch...very good..👍

Great video, keep up the good work

When I was still using a blakes I started just using a micro pulley with some accessory cord. Even paracord works fine. Just tie a girth hitch through the pulley under my blakes. And then a climbheist hitch onto the working end. Its really quick and easy to undo when you need to advance your tie in. Or you can also use an accessory biner and just clip that on and off of the pulley to make it even faster. Doesnt have to be rated or anything since the only thing its doing is pulling the blakes up

Thanks man I like it👍🏼

Low and slow nice. Thanks

Total rookie here but that’s the first self tending version I’ve seen without requiring a bunch of extra gear. Thanks!

This is a good Vedio,thx.

So this is the more essential original approach that the hitch climber pulley setup is attempting to improve on using new bits of metal equipment ...

Doing a second blakes hitch not only self tends but just needs to be broken then lower a bit to do the same and not require untieing which may not work if you end up in a bad spot. Exactly same set up and lay out but sub in another blakes hitch for the in line bowline. I'm certainly no expert but this works for me with very little experience.

That's a strong rope!

Liked the video.

Cool. I'm not really a split tail guy, but I love that self tending Blake's. That's exactly what I needed. Thanks.

Thanks Bino, this is very interesting. Everytime that I see you at this location my vast GPS mind tries to figure out where you're at. Reminds me of near D. A. Blvd near 605.

Blue moon and zigzag are a great combination. Have you ever analyzed termination knots to determine which one is most compact and least likely to interfere with the zigzag? Same concerns apply to using a hitch climber pully set up for mrs. At one time I tried a figure 8 loop and used a piece of string to tie the end of the loop in a tight eye to the biner. I didn't really use it much, but seemed to be ok.

I will have to pass this along to my uncle. He climbs ddrt for hunting. Not sure what hitch he uses but this is good info.

Hi, Good system, the only problem I can see is that you have to release the tension of the rope to remove the " kind if bowline" that pulls up the blake's hitch before to envisage to go down. This is not always possible . I would suggest to replace the " kind of bowline" at the same place by an other blake's hitch. In that configuration the effect of the second blake's hitch is neutralized by simply pull it down ( no need to remove) in only one movement allowing the descent Regards

Parabéns ticas de ouro da Para trabalhar normalmente Obrigado

Whoot whoot!

Thank you Bino! It's nice to know you can still get it done when chaos shows up to your job and gear gets dropped, run over, etc. Are there ropes which are too stiff to grab well in a Blake's hitch? I'm trying this in my garage and struggling to get good grab with my Yale Blaze 7/16 inch rope with 24 strand double braid. Is this rope too stiff? 8mm hitch cord grabbled well, but got stuck. I'll try 10mm hitch cord next.

Hi Bino - simple method I climbed back in my 20's, haven't climbed since 1982 but I have a few broken limbs I need to attend to in our back yard and I can't stomach the idea of some monkey dripping with mechanical devices, clanking with gear coming to do it. So I've got me a new harness and rope. Trouble is the overwhelming amount of information and gear these days. In those days we just used a bit of shipping rope to climb on, attached to a lineman's seat harness. There was no bridge so I like this improvement. Yep pretty basic. Just hip thrusting - super fit. No SRT then We used a more uniform prussik knot - some call it an English Prussik. I'd never seen the Blake's hitch before watching RU-vid clips over this last year. The difference I see between the English and the Blakes, besides the English one being more symmetrical is that the tail heads out on the Blakes' Hitch away from the working rope whilst on the English it heads back in towards the working rope. Intuition and the benefit of not been indoctrinated with the Blake's Hitch leaves me to think that heading back in such as with an English Prussik would be better in this situation - meaning tail heads straight back to the onto the working line where to you tie in with that Sheet Bend (what you call the loop) ... With an English Prussik the running rope won't get twisted back towards the working line in order to tie that Sheet Bend and thus won't compromise the way it wants to pull and sit naturally when you apply your weight as I can see occurs with the Blake's Hitch. Not sure if I am making sense and or whether its really a game changer - but it looks to be sit intuitively better to have the prussik not twisting Anyway, many thanks for the simplicity of that Sheet Bend tending trick instead of yet more mechanical gear - its very neat. Whoever came up with it is a genius. I'm hoping you have simple methods for SRT too so I will check out your other posts Thanks for making the time to post Bino. And give the English Prussik a go for old times sake.

Hi Bino, if I wanted to go back down before I got to a point to use a lanyard, could I untie the bowline and decend? 🇨🇦🇺🇸

I love to learn to climb some trees

Awesome vid ! Was hoping you could explain what to look for in a rope for this system . I have a 12mm rope , paid a lot of money for but is too rigid ! Want to order a new one for this purpose ! Thanks

Hey bino you tied your blakes on the left side would it work if you tied it on the right side and had your bulen on the left sp pretty much flipped

Great video ! Question.. can a pulley be added to tend the blakes hitch ? Thanks for the information

You can do another Blake’s hitch in place of the bowline knot and when you need to rappel, you can break the top Blake’s easy without completely undoing the knot and just squeeze the bottom Blake’s hitch and rappel as normal.

holy smokes

👍👍👍

Doesn't this damage the rope because of the friction between the rope and the tree while ascending and descending? Thank you so much!

When you come down you have to tie the knot back to the working line? Thanks a bunch

I'm just starting to learn using the Blake's hitch, now could I still use this without a split tail? Just give myself a few more inches on the tail?

Bino, is it possible that a tight tree crutch would cause the rope to bind instead of slide over?

I find myself putting the prusik on the termination end which I have a sewn eye. The Blake's on a split-tail is great but if u twist around I found that u have to get up to a crotch & tie in your lanyard so u can re-adjust the Blake's. Sometimes with the split-tail it tightens so much that you have to adjust it to be able to come back down but the ascend is optimal.

Bino. Is ur split tail thicker than your running rope? I've had issues with my hitch not tending upwards because the hitch gets locked on the rope. The only thing that I can think is that my split tail is not the right rope. Same diameter. Both 16 strand. 12.5mm. The tail is Samson Hawkeye. The climb rope is Notch Sasquatch.

that inline bowline is called a sheet bend my friend

How did you get the main line to loop over a branch 20-30 feet?

Not sure I'm a fan of the Sheet Bend in my load bearing line but since it's in a 2:1 system it shouldn't be too critical.

When I have practiced using this method the blakes hitch becomes so tight that it will not move via me pushing it up manually or the in line Bowline that should advance the Blakes hitch. What im I doing wrong?

I have a 10mm Blue static rope. It's new never been used. When I use the Blake's it doesn't hold. Keeps sliding down. Does the Blake's work with this kinda rope?

I'm still wondering if Prusic will damage the rope more or less than mechanical ones

What size ropes are you using?

Can you use this technique on the CTW exam?

Would that work with taughtline to

what size rope your using

a revelation

Have u tried the petzl zig zag?

Hi Bino: hope u can help. I’m a recreational climber just getting into it and have gone up maybe 25 times mostly using your self tending Blake’s. It’s been great. Today, and for the second time, something really scary happened. I couldn’t descend: the Blake’s was impossible to break and when I unweighted a bit the self tender pulled me up. The first time I was able to release from the carabiner and shimmy down with my lanyard. This second time I had to call a neighbor who brought a ladder. I’m afraid to go up again. Would love to solve this mystery. Why did it it work all those other times? I’m tying everything the same way. And do u have any suggestions for self rescue? Thanks.

Great to not have that tail tied in upon descent. Self tending tail can interfere with breaking the knot to descend.

Can I use a foot ascender with that system?

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧

Or you could make another blakes hitch and climb quite easier

i mean, ya lol

Tgak you

It’s a great video but sadly the blakes hitch is largely useless in the tree. If you have even the tiniest amount of sap or dirt on your rope, you’ll spend most of your time tending knots. Great fun as an exercise, utterly impractical for any type of professional tree work. If you want performance you’re going to want to invest in a device. For practicing this does get you started tho 👍

Fake zigzag

If a customer is worried about you spiking their palm/tree is this a good way to get up there and do some trimming?