How to Tie the Alpine Butterfly (Hand Method)
Usage
The Alpine Butterfly (Hand Method) is a way to tie a fixed loop in the middle of a rope by wrapping the rope around your hand instead of twisting a bight. The finished knot is the standard Alpine Butterfly — same loop, same strength, same behaviour under load.
It is tied in the bight — no rope end needed — and because your hand does the shaping, you can tie it with thick gloves or mittens on. That matters for cold-weather climbing, tree work, and rescue: Knots3D's dedicated Alpine Butterfly (Hand Method) page notes the knot "can be easily tied with gloves on (hand method)".
Common Uses
Climbing and Mountaineering
- Mid-rope tie-in for the middle person on a multi-person climbing or glacier rope team — clip in with two locking carabiners, gates opposed.
- Isolating a damaged, frayed, or core-shot section of rope mid-line, so it bears no load.
Search and Rescue
- Gloved mid-line loops for cold-weather field work.
- Tying secure mid-line loops with limited mobility or vision. Professional rescue trainer Risk Response + Rescue teaches a palm-crossing hand method — see their tutorial How to tie an alpine butterfly knott - Over hand method.
Camping and Bushcraft
- Everyday, low-consequence camp jobs: mid-line loops for tarps, ridgelines, bear hangs, and hanging gear. In a tie-out line — like our 1.8mm Reflective Guyline — it gives you a clean clip-in point that will not slide.
Arborist
- A mid-line redirect or extra anchor point in tree work — real, though not the community default.
ABOK Number
(Ashley Book of Knots)
Other Names
Variations
Category
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Notable Features
- Glove-Friendly: The knot forms around your hand, so mittens and thick work gloves are no obstacle.
- No Ends Needed: Tied entirely in the bight, anywhere along the rope.
- Easy to Inspect: Symmetric parallel lobes make a fast partner check.
Similar Knots
Alpine Butterfly Knot vs. Alpine Butterfly (Hand Method)
These are the same finished knot by two tying paths. The twist-tied Alpine Butterfly is the one to use when the line is already under load.
- Advantage: The hand method wins on gloved tying, tactile learning, and field speed on a slack line.
- Disadvantage: If the line may suddenly load mid-tie, the hand method puts your hand inside the wraps — use a twist method instead.
Farmer's Loop vs. Alpine Butterfly (Hand Method)
The Farmer's Loop knot is the neighbouring mid-line loop in Ashley's book.
- Advantage: Reportedly binds less and unties more easily after brutal purchase loading.
- Disadvantage: Less recognised and harder to tie and check — for anything partner-checked or taught, the butterfly stays the default.
Security Level
Correctly tied, the finished knot is inherently secure: it holds through shock loads, keeps its position even when slack, and no source in our research recommends a backup or stopper for it. The security belongs to the finished butterfly, not the tying method — the only check that matters is that you tied a true butterfly.
Downsides
- Middle-Loop Mix-Ups: Losing track of which wrap to pick up, or wrapping unevenly, leaves a lopsided or false-looking knot that needs a re-tie.
- Hand-Injury Risk on a Live Line: If the rope loads suddenly mid-tie, the wraps can cinch onto your hand. Never hand-wrap a line that might come under load.
- Can Seize in Purchase Systems: Used as the fixed loop of a trucker's hitch under heavy tension — especially in stiff or polypropylene rope — the knot can jam. If it must untie fast after hard cinching, the Span Loop knot or the Farmer's Loop are better picks.
- Not for Closed Rings: It cannot practically be tied around a closed ring that can't be threaded — a rethreaded figure-8 substitutes there.
Structure
The knot is a pair of interlinked overhand knots forming a fixed mid-line eye that loads safely in any direction; the hand is just a temporary former for the wraps. Bear Essentials' hand-method rule: the hand method changes nothing about the knot and everything about who can tie it.
History
The earliest known publication of the finished knot is A.A. Burger's 1914 Rope and Its Uses, as a "lineman's rider"; the butterfly name and its mountaineering fame come from C.E.I. Wright and J.E. Magowan's 1928 Alpine Journal article — the naming trail is in Wikipedia's Butterfly loop entry. Clifford Ashley catalogued it as #1053 in The Ashley Book of Knots (1944) by diagram alone — the hand method itself is a post-Ashley teaching convention.
How to Tie the Alpine Butterfly (Hand Method)
We teach the two-wrap version from Grog's Alpine Butterfly Loop page, devised by Animated Knots to make the working turn easy to find.
Step 1
Wrap the rope around your hand twice.
Step 2
At the end of turn one, position the rope close to your fingertips.
Step 3
Continue around and complete turn two back near your thumb.
Step 4
Pick up the turn nearest your fingertips — the second crossing.
Step 5
Wrap it around the other two turns on your hand.
Step 6
Slide the resulting knot off your hand.
Step 7
Tighten by pulling on the loop and both ends — the classic set is to hold the loop in your teeth and pull both ends with your hands.
Picking up the right turn is easier to see in motion than in words — the Knot IQ app breaks the tie down move by move — and the finished knot is identical to the twist-tied Alpine Butterfly, whichever method you learn from. To build the muscle memory, drill it on the practice cord in our Knot Tying Kit — practice cordage only, not rated for climbing or rescue loads.
FAQ
Is the hand-tied Alpine Butterfly weaker than the twist-tied version?
No. The hand method and the twist method are just two ways to tie the exact same knot (ABOK #1053): same strength, same security, same behaviour under load. Every strength result in our research varies with rope type, never with tying method. Pick whichever method you can tie reliably.
Why would I use the hand method instead of the twist method?
Two reasons: it's easier for many people to learn by feel, and — the big one — you can tie it with thick gloves or mittens on, which is why cold-weather climbers, arborists, and rescue crews favour it. The trade-off: don't hand-wrap a line that might suddenly load, because the wraps can cinch onto your hand. On a live line, use a twist method instead.
Is there one correct hand method for the Alpine Butterfly?
No — at least seven named variants circulate (two-wrap, three-wrap numbered, palm-crossing, thumb-hook, hybrid, and a couple of one-handed methods), and knot tyers cheerfully argue over which is best. They all produce the identical knot. A good default is the two-wrap version taught above, deliberately designed so the working loop is easy to find.
Important Notes on Safety
Do not hand-wrap-tie on a line that may come under sudden load — the wraps can cinch onto and injure your tying hand; on a live or loaded line, use a twist (in-rope) method instead. In a trucker's-hitch or mid-line purchase application the knot can seize under heavy load, especially in stiff or polypropylene rope, so do not assume it will always untie easily in that configuration. In life-safety use, a butterfly loop at an anchor should be clipped — with two locking carabiners, gates opposed — not relied on unclipped. And before loading any butterfly, verify the true form: symmetric parallel lobes, no crossing strands, loop centred.
