How to Tie the Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor)
Usage
The Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor) lowers gear on two anchor points instead of one — two trees, two posts — and still gives the rope back. It is the two-anchor form of the single-anchor Bear's Grip Hitch: it holds under steady tension, then comes apart when you slacken the line and shake it.
Why Learn the Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor)?
Learn it for the one job the original can't do: spreading a modest load across two anchors when neither is enough alone and there's no hardware to rig with. With one good anchor, tie the original instead. This one buys load-sharing, not security.
Common Uses
Every use below assumes you're standing there watching it, and that a release costs you nothing worse than a dropped load. Never a person.
- Improvised Two-Point Rigging: Sharing a load between two trees or posts when neither is strong enough alone.
- Lowering Gear Down a Ledge: Send a pack or tools down on the two-point attachment, then shake the rope free and recover it. Gear only.
- Camp and Bushcraft Rigging: Spanning or hanging between two points where an accidental release costs nothing.
Rope choice matters: both catches hold by friction and stiffness, so slick, limp cord degrades them. Keep it off Dyneema-class line and expect a grippy nylon like our Premium Bushcraft Paracord to behave better.
ABOK Number(Ashley Book of Knots)
Other Names
Category
Variations
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Notable Features
- Two Anchors, One Rope: One line routed to two fixed points so the load spreads between them.
- Shake-Loose Release: Slacken the line, shake it, and the whole rope comes back.
- A Figure-Eight Used as a Hook: Its acute corner acts as a hook, with a second bight caught over it as a backup.
Do Two Anchors Really Share the Load Evenly?
Not automatically — worth knowing first. In Self Equalising Anchors: a Myth?, R. Owen and S. Naguran found two-limb self-equalising anchors shared load significantly less evenly than fixed ones; Anchoring: The Realities of Self-Equalization reads the wider testing the same way. Friction stops such systems adjusting under load, so force lands on the shortest leg, and if that leg goes the slack one gets shock-loaded. Those tests are on webbing rather than rope hitches, so take the lesson, not the numbers: tie a fixed, tensioned split and balance both legs by hand.
Similar Knots
Bear's Grip Hitch vs. Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor)
- Advantage: The original is simpler and faster, uses less rope, and has more real use behind it.
- Disadvantage: Everything lands on one point, so it can't share a load across two weak anchors.
Remote Release Hitch vs. Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor)
- Advantage: The Remote Release Hitch (Bell Ringer's Knot) is this mechanism's ancestor and far quicker to tie and release.
- Disadvantage: One safety on one anchor, so a knock can let it all go.
Security Level
Treat it as emergency-grade, not secure. It is built to come apart — slack plus a shake is the release — so it holds only under tension, and must never carry a person's weight. Two anchors share the load; they don't make it safer. And a balanced split has no visual right or wrong, so the setting that matters most is the one you can't check by eye.
Downsides
- Fussy Setup: Needs careful tensioning of both legs, and even then an even split isn't guaranteed.
- Rope Hungry: Two anchor points use more rope than the single-anchor Bear's Grip Hitch.
- New Failure Modes: Uneven load-sharing, and possible shock-loading of the surviving leg if one anchor fails — none of it independently tested.
- An Open Question About the Hook: On the Bear's Grip Hitch (Kamikaze Knot) thread, member kost_greg noted that a figure-eight distorts under through-loading and may cost rope strength; DJ agreed. Two legs can shift the pull direction, so that concern stands here.
When Not to Use the Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor)
Don't use it as a load-sharing anchor for climbing or rescue. It isn't secure by design and has no test data behind it; the honest fix there isn't a knot but a rated, purpose-built anchor system.
And never put a person on it. Lowering or rappelling a human on this hitch is dangerous; the only carve-out is a genuine no-other-option emergency, and even then a bowline plus a tag line is safer.
History
The Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor) is DJ Tudino's 2026 extension of his own 2024 Bear's Grip Hitch, added to the Knot IQ app as one of eleven new knots. It ends a lineage through the original Bellringer Knot, the Safety Remote Release Hitch (Bell Ringer's Knot), and the classic Kamikaze Knot. It isn't in Ashley's 1944 book, and no outside source documents the dual-anchor form by name.
How to Tie the Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor)
Step 1
Form a bight of rope and bend it 90 degrees toward the standing end — the side that takes the load.
Step 2
Wrap the bight around the standing end to form a figure-eight. One corner comes out acute, the other obtuse; point the acute corner toward the standing end — it makes the better hook.
Step 3
Wrap the tag end around the anchor object — a tree, a rail, a bag loop.
Step 4
Tie a clockwise overhand twist in the standing line.
Step 5
Pass a bight of the tag end down through that overhand turn and loop it over the top of the figure-eight's acute-angle hook. Pull tight so the half hitch binds on the loop.
Step 6
Route the rope so the load is carried between two separate anchor points rather than one, sharing it across both legs, then form and seat the grip-and-hook release structure at the junction. Tension both legs for a balanced split before loading.
Step 7
To release: with the line slack, shake the rope to clear the first fail-safe, then shake again for the second. The assembly comes undone and the full rope is recoverable — expect to clear it on both legs.
Pro Tip: Keep the loop over the hook small and snug — a bigger loop shakes off more easily, which is the same as an accidental release. If the routing is hard to picture, the Knot IQ app carries it in 3D, and a Knot IQ Companion Kit gives you cord to practise on.
FAQ
Does the Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor) share the load evenly between the two anchors?
It's designed to, but "evenly" isn't automatic. Rescue-rigging testing shows self-adjusting two-point systems often load one leg anyway, and can shock-load the other if that leg fails.
Can I use the Bear's Grip (Dual Anchor) to lower or rappel a person?
No. It could let go at any time, and the kamikaze family carries an expert warning that such mechanisms can cause severe injury or death when used for human support.
How is it different from the regular Bear's Grip Hitch?
Same shake-loose release, routed to two anchor points instead of one so the load is shared. It uses more rope, is fiddlier to tie, and needs careful balanced tensioning.
Important Notes on Safety
- Not inherently secure, and not for life-supporting use — it could let go at any time.
- Using this class of mechanism for human support can lead to severe injury or death — put plainly by a member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers on the Bear's Grip Hitch (Kamikaze Knot) thread; it applies at least as much here.
- Don't assume the two legs self-equalise. Tension both deliberately, and treat a fixed tied split as the more reliable way to share a load.
- The figure-eight-on-a-bight hook is non-ideal for through-loading and may reduce rope strength — sharper here, since two legs can shift the load direction.
