Been setting my climbing line with a running bowline for a decade, and a new guy asked me why.

Terry Owens · 2026-03-20T18:40:06.078052+00:00

He pointed out that my tail was always on the wrong side of the standing line, which could cause it to roll out under a shock load. I had just copied my old boss and never thought about it. Has anyone else had a simple safety detail they missed for years?

noah1354mo ago

Wait, is that even true about the tail placement making it roll out under shock load? Didn't think running bowlines were that picky about direction.

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ray7235mo ago

Ever think about why we even have best practices, @richardrodriguez? It's for that one time your system gets tested, not the ninety-nine times it doesn't. Getting a detail wrong for a decade is a pretty good reminder.

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richardrodriguez5mo ago

Honestly, how often does a climbing line actually see a shock load like that? Most of the time you're just setting it and working off it, not taking huge falls. Seems like one of those textbook things that gets overblown compared to real world use.

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