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Icicle Hitch

Grip hitch for slick or tapered standing parts. Turns away from the pull.

Advanced · Polyester / Nylon rope / Polypropylene / Natural fibre

Tie it · 4 stepsCheck the finishAll diagramsApplications

Connection card

Icicle Hitch

For load transfer / snubber.

Icicle Hitch — finishedFinished structure. A long stack of wraps along the spar, then locking wraps. More friction surface than a rolling hitch.

A long stack of wraps along the spar, then locking wraps. More friction surface than a rolling hitch.

What it joins Load transfer / snubber. In polyester, nylon rope, polypropylene, natural fibre.
Turns 4 to 6. Count them before you seat it; afterwards you are guessing.
Shape Four or five turns away from the pull, working end back, bight over both ends and over the spar end
Tag end Bight passed over both ends and the spar end — no bight means unfinished
Seated Set perpendicular first, then load along the spar; slide-test before you trust it
Start again if Turns toward the pull. Hitch will not grip and slides off

This card does not say how strong the knot is. A retention figure comes from a bench, in one material, at one diameter, tied by somebody who ties it all day — and the line in your hand is none of those. What it does tell you is whether the thing you have just tied is the thing the record describes.

What this plate is telling you

Grip hitch for slick or tapered standing parts. Turns away from the pull.

Save this as a picture and it works with a dead signal and a nearly dead battery, which is when a joint is most often tied badly. The rest of this page — the steps, the seating sequence, the failure modes and the bench — is for the evening before.

Why this knot

What it earns its place with, what it costs, and what to reach for instead.

Best for
Load transfer
Not ideal for
  • A hitch you will adjust every minute (rolling hitch is faster)
  • A two-way hold
Common mistakes
  • Laying the turns toward the direction of pull instead of away from it.
  • Pulling the working end tight so no bight is left behind the spar.
  • Passing the bight over the two rope parts but not over the end of the spar.
  • Letting the load come on along the spar before pulling both ends tight at right angles to it.
Alternatives
  • Rolling HitchIntermediate

    Gripping a loaded rope or spar to take a pull along it, such as taking the strain off a line jammed on a winch

  • Trucker's HitchIntermediate

    Pulling a line tight between two fixed points to lash down a load or a tarpaulin, then locking it with two half hitches

Before you start

  • ·It holds a pull along the spar in one direction only. Work out which end the load will pull toward, and start the turns beside that end.
  • ·Leave enough working end for four or five turns plus a bight long enough to reach over both rope parts and past the end of the spar.
  • ·The bight finish needs a spar end you can reach. If you cannot reach it, finish with the working end, passed behind the standing part and over the spar twice.
  • ·With no load on it the hitch slides freely, so it can be moved along the spar and reset.
Line + hardware: Rope long enough for four or five turns and a bight, A spar, post or pole to grip

Step 1 of 4 · move 1 of 1. Take four turns round the spar, laying each one further from the spar's end

Space plays or pauses. Keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 set the speed. Arrow keys change the move.

How to tie it — Step 1 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Take four turns round the spar, laying each one further from the spar's endThe standing part hangs down the front of the spar and the working end goes round it four times, each turn further from the spar's end, then hangs down behind.
1Standing part
2First turn

swipe to step

01.1

Take four turns round the spar, laying each one further from the spar's end

Hold:
Left hand holds the standing part against the front of the spar
Move:
Right hand takes the working end over the top and round, four times, working left

You should now see: Four snug turns side by side on the spar, the standing part leaving from the turn nearest the spar's end.

Written step 01

Take four or five turns with the working end around the spar itself, laying each new turn further from the spar's end. The load will pull along the spar toward that end.

You should now see

Four or five snug turns side by side on the spar, with the standing part leaving from the turn nearest the spar's end.

If it goes wrong

Laying the turns toward the direction of pull instead of away from it. You will see the working end finishing nearer the spar's end than the standing part, and the hitch slides when loaded.

Fix: Unwind the turns and start again beside the end the load will pull toward, laying each turn further away from it.

Why: Under load the coil is drawn longer and so grips tighter, much like a finger trap. That happens only when the pull comes from the end where the turns started.

What fails if this is wrong
  • Turns toward the pull — Hitch will not grip and slides off. Turns must work away from the direction of pull.
What this is based onReference review, not yet tied
Record
Reviewed 2026-08-14. 2 sources are cited for this record.
Drawing
Checked against published references and found to be this knot. Not yet tied from the drawing. Recorded 2026-09-21.
Known limits
None that stop a reader following it were confirmed in the plate audit of 2026-09-24; smaller findings were not all re-checked.
Strength
Not established. No credible, comparable strength data exists for this knot, so no figure is shown.

Watch the tie

How to Tie an Icicle Hitch (Rope End Method)AnimatedKnots · Opens on YouTube

External video from a creator we follow — not produced by us. Nothing on this page loads from YouTube until you follow the link.

Seating sequence — where failures are born

The step list compresses the finish. Run these phases in order, one at a time.

  1. 01 Form

    Build the structure loose enough to see every turn.

    None. Shape first.

  2. 02 Dress

    Nest every turn. Crossed parts will walk or jam.

    Light — hold the shape.

  3. 03 Set

    Load the standing part so the intended turns take the strain.

    Working load, not a snatch.

  4. 04 Check

    Confirm the lock still breaks or inspects as the job requires.

    None extra.

  5. 05 Commit

    Only load it after the structure reads correct. Wrong means remake.

    Working load, not a snatch.

Finished structure — what correct looks like

Icicle Hitch, finishedIcicle Hitch, finished

Drawn from a rope model of this knot: which strand passes over which comes from where the rope actually lies.

Structure
Four or five turns away from the pull, working end back, bight over both ends and over the spar end
Standing line
Pull along the spar after a perpendicular set; not away from it
Tag end
Bight passed over both ends and the spar end — no bight means unfinished
Wraps
Turns stacked away from the pull — toward the pull is the wrong hitch
Seating
Set perpendicular first, then load along the spar; slide-test before you trust it

Verify before you load it

Every line is pass or fail. One fail means retie — do not load a knot you argued with.

  • 01Four or five turns away from the pull, working end back, bight over both ends and over the spar end
  • 02Set perpendicular first, then load along the spar; slide-test before you trust it
  • 03Bight passed over both ends and the spar end — no bight means unfinished
  • 04Turns stacked away from the pull — toward the pull is the wrong hitch
  • 05Turns toward the pull, or a missed spar-end pass, will not grip
  • 06Holds a slide-test. If it walks, add a turn
Something failed → open Diagnose

Field notes — dark, cold, gloves

  • ·Dress is the lock. A pretty knot that is not dressed is not finished.
  • ·HMPE usually wants a splice, not a hitch you learned in polyester.
  • ·If you cannot break or inspect it under the load you expect, it is the wrong job.
Failure modes

When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.

Grip-hitch family

Directional bite on a standing part — slide-test before you trust it.

  • !Turns on the wrong side of the load
  • !Failed slide-test, still used
  • !A clove where a rolling or icicle third turn was the job
Fails when
  • !The turns run toward the pull instead of away from it, so the hitch slides when loaded.
  • !The bight went over the rope parts but missed the end of the spar, so it pulls straight out when tightened.
  • !It was loaded along the spar before being pulled tight, or tied with too few turns, and it slides as the load comes on.
  • !The pull comes from the other direction along the spar, or the load comes off, and the hitch slides.
Geometry

  • Turns toward the pull

    Hitch will not grip and slides off

    Turns must work away from the direction of pull · step 01

  • Bight missed the spar end

    Unfinished icicle — dumps under along-spar load

    The bight must pass over both ends and over the spar end · step 03

  • Never set perpendicular, or too few turns

    Walks on the first along-spar load

    Set perpendicular, then load; add a turn if the slide-test fails · step 04

If you saw this

  • Hitch slides down the standing part

    Check

    • ?Turns away from the pull
    • ?Bight over both ends and the spar end

    Then

    • →Add a turn
    • →Reset perpendicular, then load

  • Turns toward the pull

    Check

    • ?Hitch will not grip and slides off
    • ?Inspect step 01

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.

  • Bight missed the spar end

    Check

    • ?Unfinished icicle — dumps under along-spar load
    • ?Inspect step 03

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.

  • Never set perpendicular, or too few turns

    Check

    • ?Walks on the first along-spar load
    • ?Inspect step 04

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Same family

Same failure class, different geometry. Open the plates — Diagnose still starts from the symptom.

This failed — start Diagnose
The bench · rep 1

Get it right with everything in your favour0/5 clean

Nothing logged on this knot yet, so it starts on the bottom rung.

Good light, dry hands, a table. Until the sequence is automatic here there is nothing for the harder rungs to test — you would only be learning that difficult conditions are difficult, which you already knew.

How · Tie it, check it against the list, log it. Five clean and the ladder opens.

Conditions for this rep
What went wrong, if anything

Nothing marked. Log it clean, or mark what happened first.

Strength, and where the number comes from

Not established

A grip hitch whose performance is a function of the surface it grips, and no published test states a rope-break percentage for it.

Percentages come from published tests on their own line, their own knot-tyer and their own pull rate. Yours is a different system. Treat a figure as a reason to test, not as a result you already have.

Sources for this record

Record reviewed 2026-08-14

Vetted references

Test yourself

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Related knots

Already tied it?

Check the finished knot against what correct looks like before you load it.