Outdoor Adventure Skills Knots

Outdoor Adventure Skills Knots

Scoutcraft

• Scoutcraft Skills Stage 1
  • 1. I can hang a drying/gear line at camp with a half hitch or other knot.
• Scoutcraft Skills Stage 2
  • 1. I can tie a reef knot, a round turn and two half-hitch knots.
• Scoutcraft Skills Stage 3
  • 1. I can tie a half hitch, clove hitch and a fisherman’s knot.
• Scoutcraft Skills Stage 4
  • 1. As part of a team, I have completed a Scoutcraft project using at least a square lashing to join two poles at right angles.
  • 2. I can tie a figure eight, bowline, trucker’s hitch and sheet bend, and whip the end of a rope.
• Scoutcraft Skills Stage 5
  • 1. I have built a lean-to shelter and an A-frame sleeping tripod shelter, using wood and tied with four lashing knots: square, diagonal, tripod and shear lashings.
• Scoutcraft Skills Stage 7
  • 2. I have taught five knots to younger Scout members.
• Scoutcraft Skills Stage 8
  • 1. I can backsplice, short splice and eye splice a three-strand rope.

Sailing Skills

• Sailing Skills Stage 2
  • 7. I can demonstrate how to tie reef knot, sheet bend and figure-eight.
• Sailing Skills Stage 3
  • 8. I can tie the reef knot, sheet bend, figure-eight and bowline used by Scouts when sailing or when camping.
• Sailing Skills Stage 4
  • 9. I can tie eight knots that are useful when sailing, canoeing or camping.

Vertical Skills

• Vertical Skills Stage 3
  • 1. I have correctly tied a figure-8 follow-through knot.
• Vertical Skills Stage 5
  • 1. I can tie these knots: water (tape), double fishermen’s, prussic, clove hitch and bowline.
  • 2. I can coil a climbing rope using a butterfly and a mountaineer method.
  • 7. I have constructed and climbed in a “Swiss seat” improvised climbing harness made with tubular or tape webbing.
• Vertical Skills Stage 6
  • 1. I have tied and used a Munter hitch (also called an Italian hitch) as a belay method.
  • 2. I have constructed and used an improvised "Parisian Baudrier" chest harness

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It is interesting that additional knots required in stages past Scoutcraft Skills Stage 4 are lashings (Stage 5: square, diagonal, tripod and shear) and splicing (Scoutcraft Skills Stage 8: backsplice, short splice, eye splice), which one could argue are not knots at all, but rather applications of knots. This really shows the importance of these fundamental knots. Higher stages may require more complex projects (monkey bridge, tower, bridge, camp gateway), but largely rely on the knots potentially taught to Cub Scouts or early stage Scouts.

See more Outdoor Adventure Skills by Topic.