How to tie a figure 8 in Climbing

Reviewer Thorough and precise — includes the inspection check most beginners never learn.

Moderator This is the core tie-in tutorial: which end of the rope to tie into, making the initial 8, threading the harness, retracing, dressing the knot, and the double fisherman's backup. Everything the sub-skill is asking for.

Reviewer Complete, careful, and honest that you still need a human to check your knot the first few times.

Moderator Fully on-skill, presented as literally 'one of the first things you'll learn' -- textbook coverage of the tie-in.

Reviewer This is the one to actually learn from -- mnemonics, failure checks, and the safety reasoning all included.

Moderator Complete, correct coverage of the exact tie-in skill from measuring through final check.

Reviewer Most complete figure-8 tutorial in the batch - goes all the way to a proper Yosemite finish.

Moderator Covers the whole figure-8 family - basic 8, follow-through, retrace, Yosemite finish, on a bite, bend, double loop - all of it is the knot itself.

Reviewer Best of the bunch -- full tutorial, a common-mistake warning, and three real safety checks at the end.

Moderator Full step-by-step figure-8 follow-through tutorial for tying into the rope: measuring, forming the initial figure-8 (with a warning against the common 'pretzel' mis-tie), threading the hard points, retracing, and three separate check steps. Entirely and only about this sub-skill.

Reviewer Great beginner walkthrough -- mnemonics, strand checks, and a safety-knot bonus.

Moderator Full figure-8 tie-in walkthrough plus the double fisherman's backup knot -- squarely the sub-skill from start to finish.

Reviewer Clean, fast, correct -- the five-parallel-lines check alone is worth memorizing.

Moderator This is the standard tie-in figure 8, start to finish, no detours.

Reviewer The tunnel/race-car analogy for dressing the knot will actually stick with people.

Moderator Entirely about tying and dressing a figure-8 knot correctly. Nothing else going on here.

Reviewer Best one in this batch -- precise, safety-minded, no wasted words.

Moderator From a real climbing source -- Sterling Rope and Chicks Climbing and Skiing -- this teaches the rewoven figure-8 exactly as you'd tie it into a harness: measuring the tail, tracing the original strand, dressing it. This is precisely the sub-skill.

Reviewer Best technical deep-dive here - real testing, not just opinions, and it clears up a debate that has genuinely confused a lot of climbers.

Moderator All figure 8, all the way through - tying it correctly (including a common dressing mistake he admits doing wrong for 20 years), the Yosemite-finish/ring-loading safety debate, and load-strand positioning. Never leaves the knot.

Reviewer The measuring method plus the 'check your partner's knot' reminder - this is how it should be taught.

Moderator This is precisely 'how to tie a figure 8 for tying in' - rethreaded figure-8 plus stopper knot, nothing else in the video.

Reviewer Underrated tip -- dressing your knot the same way every time is exactly the kind of habit real instructors push, and this explains why.

Moderator Specifically about dressing a figure-8 knot properly -- routing through the harder hole first vs the easy hole, keeping the same orientation every time, tightening every strand for symmetry. A real, specific technique within tying the figure-8, not a tangent. Squarely on the sub-skill.

Reviewer Great starter tutorial -- the alien-head trick for the loop is a good memory aid, and it ends with an actual safety check.

Moderator Full walkthrough of tying the figure-8 and then the follow-through into the harness for climbing -- rope selection, measuring, forming the initial figure-8, threading both tie-in points, retracing, and checking. This is the sub-skill itself taught start to finish, nothing else mixed in.

Reviewer Clear, correct basics -- good first-knot lesson.

Moderator Same figure-8 follow-through tie-in lesson as the other Julie Ellison clip -- bite, both tie-in points, follow-through, dress and check tail length. Squarely the skill.

Reviewer Solid, correct, no wasted words -- good first-knot lesson.

Moderator Textbook figure-8 follow-through tie-in from a climbing mag gear editor: the bite, under-over-through, both harness tie-in points, the follow-through, dressing it, 6-8 inches of tail. Nothing else mixed in -- exactly the skill.

Reviewer One of the best here -- explains the reasoning, not just the steps.

Moderator Squarely about the figure-8 loop, covering both the traditional and follow-through methods and explaining why the figure-8 is preferred for alpine climbing specifically.

Reviewer Thorough, safety-conscious, and easy to follow -- great for a first-timer.

Moderator This is exactly it -- the full figure-8 follow-through tie-in, from tying the initial knot through both harness points and rethreading back through. This is the knot every climber needs to learn first.

Reviewer Short but hits every real safety checkpoint - the five-parallel-pairs and X/equal-sign backup check are exactly what you should be looking for.

Moderator Clean, complete, step-by-step tie-in procedure from bite to backup knot, nothing else mixed in. Exactly the core skill.

Reviewer Thorough, and it actually teaches the stopper knot properly instead of glossing over it.

Moderator Exactly the skill: the rethreaded figure-8 follow-through with a stopper knot, which is the standard climber's tie-in.

Reviewer Simple, accurate, and the inspection count is explained clearly.

Moderator Straightforward tie-in tutorial: measuring the rope off your body, tying the 8, threading both loops, retracing, tensioning, and the 2-4-6-8-10 strand check plus a belayer double-check. Hits every beat of the skill.

Reviewer Clean explanation, and it tells you how to fix it when you get it wrong.

Moderator Squarely the tie-in tutorial: measuring rope length, tying the initial 8, threading the harness, retracing, counting 10 strands, and — usefully — naming the two most common beginner mistakes (tail too short or too long, knot too far from harness).

Reviewer The 'if it looks like a pretzel you did it wrong' line alone is worth the watch.

Moderator Five different figure-8 variants, each one walked through as a knot-tying tutorial. Squarely on topic throughout.

Reviewer Catches a mistake most climbers don't even know they're making.

Moderator Squarely about tying the figure 8 correctly - a specific, real, subtle mistake (which side to pull the tail through) that changes how hard the knot is to untie afterward.

Reviewer Great for tightening up technique and myths (that stopper knot isn't a safety backup) once you already know the basics.

Moderator Squarely about tying into the harness with a figure 8, though the transcript excerpt cuts off before finishing the tie itself -- what's shown is all on-skill technique and reasoning.

Reviewer Good, correct fix for a real annoyance -- not a full tutorial, but worth knowing so your knot doesn't jam up after a fall.

Moderator Entirely about the figure-8 climbing knot, comparing two already-tied versions and pinpointing the exact difference in how the follow-through strand routes through the harness loop. Right activity (climbing tie-in), right knot, nothing else discussed. Squarely on the sub-skill.

Reviewer Walks through the whole knot from scratch, step by step.

Moderator This is the canonical climbing tie-in knot, explained step by step from the very start - exactly and precisely the sub-skill.

Reviewer As credible as it gets for climbing safety, Petzl knows tie-in knots.

Moderator Petzl's own tips series on tying in with a properly threaded figure 8, this is exactly the skill, from a manufacturer whose whole business is climbing safety hardware.

Reviewer Gets the basic process across, but skips some of the safety checks the better videos include.

Moderator Straightforward demonstration of tying the figure 8 and following it through around an anchor point, start to finish. Entirely on-topic.

Reviewer Clean explanation of a detail a lot of climbers skip - worth knowing.

Moderator Focused specifically on dressing the figure 8 correctly - comparing a well-dressed vs poorly-dressed knot side by side and showing how to fix the twists. Dressing is a core part of tying this knot properly, not a side topic.

Reviewer Good tie-in, and the trick for undoing a weighted knot is genuinely useful.

Moderator Covers tying the base knot, threading the harness, and following it through - on topic, plus a genuinely useful untying trick for a weighted knot.

Reviewer Gets the job done, but no depth beyond the basic tie-in.

Moderator Straightforward figure-8 tie-in explanation, on topic throughout even with the avalanche-hazard framing device at the start.

Reviewer Simple and clear, with a couple of genuinely useful practical notes.

Moderator This is the plain figure-8-on-a-bight loop, taught cleanly and generically enough to apply directly to climbing. Squarely the sub-skill.

Reviewer Should show the knot cleanly, less certain it covers climbing-specific safety details.

Moderator Explicitly the figure-8 loop for climbing safety, on topic. Docking it slightly because the account is a general knot channel, not climbing-specific, so can't be sure the climbing-specific framing (rethread, tie-in point) is handled with the rigor a dedicated climbing account would bring.

Reviewer Good info if you can keep up — narration is fast and a bit disorganized.

Moderator Covers a lot of ground — basic figure 8, follow-through, figure 8 on a bite, and bunny-ear equalized to two anchors — so it's squarely in the figure-8 family. Some of that (bunny ears) is really anchor-building rather than 'tie in for climbing' but it's still the same knot skill.

Reviewer Gets the knot across fine, light on climbing-specific detail.

Moderator The plain figure-8 knot taught cleanly from scratch, with an explicit callout that it's the base for the important climbing knots. Squarely on topic even though it isn't the climbing-specific rewoven version.

Reviewer Accurate but pretty bare-bones, doesn't go into much detail.

Moderator A figure-8-based knot used in climbing, but the double-figure-8-on-a-bight for anchoring is a different application than the harness tie-in most other clips in this batch cover - still squarely in the figure-8 knot family and clearly a climbing skill, just a specific variant.

Reviewer Good if you already tie an 8 on a bite -- this extends it, doesn't teach it from scratch.

Moderator This is the 'Super 8' -- a genuine figure-8 variant tied by starting from a figure-8 on a bite and feeding a second bite through it to equalize an anchor. Real figure-8 tying, just the anchor-building application rather than the basic harness tie-in.

Reviewer Accurate but bare-bones — fine as a refresher, not enough for a first-timer.

Moderator Explicitly calls the figure 8 'the most important knot in climbing aside from the bowline' and covers the on-a-bite and rethreaded/follow-through versions — relevant, just doesn't show the harness-threading step specifically, framing it more generally toward rappel anchors too.

Reviewer Correct but thin — skips the safety checks a dedicated climbing video would cover.

Moderator This is a general knot-tying channel (sailing, climbing, general use), and only part of it addresses the climbing application specifically — tying the double figure 8 through a harness. It does cover it correctly, just amid non-climbing framing.

Reviewer Too vague to actually learn from — leans entirely on the video, not the explanation.

Moderator On topic — it is the follow-through tie-in knot and mentions the stopper-knot backup — but it's generic enough (no harness-specific detail, no inspection method) that it reads like a general knot-reference entry with 'climbing' bolted on.

Reviewer Precise and correct, just a narrower, more specialized knot than most people are looking for here.

Moderator Also a real figure-8 variant -- used for building anchors, not tying into a harness -- so it's in the family but not the specific application most of this batch (and most learners searching this skill) are after.

Reviewer The knot's in here somewhere, but you'll need to already know it to follow along.

Moderator Squarely the tie-in skill -- measuring, tying, threading, rethreading, stopper knot are all present.