Carabiner Wrap, Munter Hitch and Super Munter

It is common for people to play a game called, “What If”. It usually starts with someone asking, “What if I don’t have a Figure 8” or another piece of equipment. There are some critical pieces of equipment, such as a rope, but many other items can be improvised. In Thailand, it is still common to use a ‘Carabiner Wrap’ for rappels. To do this, a rope is wraped once or twice around a carabiner. This provides some friction to allow someone to rappel down.

Unfortunately there is very little friction added and many accidents happen because of rappelling this way. There are many videos on youtube taken in Thailand and other countries of serious injuries caused by this.

A safer method is to use a ‘Munter Hitch’. This is a special type of knot where the rope passes against itself and creates additional friction. This can be used to safely rappel or lower a person. The rope is not damange since the rope is always moving. The rope doesn’t cross the same point. One of the problems with the Munter Hitch is it twists the rope. If on a long rappel or multiple people rappel this way, the rope can turn into a tangled mess.

An even better option is the ‘Super Munter Hitch’. This is Munter Hitch where the rope passes around itself a second time. This provides a lot more friction than a normal Munter Hitch. There is enough friction to safely lower two or three people at the same time. That is impossible with a normal Carabiner Wrap. Another benefit of the Super Munter Hitch is since the rope passes back over itself a second time, the rope does not get tangled.

Both the Munter Hitch and Super Munter Hitch require an HMS ‘pear shape’ carabiner such as the Rock Exotica Pirate Carabiner to work properly. A standard ‘D’ shape carabiner does not let the rope move freely.

Even the Munter Hitch and Super Munter Hitch are easy to tie and use, they still require proper training. Please contact us for more information.