Bear Grylls Kamikaze Knot
Seen on "Escape From Hell" Survival Show
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| How To Tie A Kamikaze Knot on Bear Grylls "Escape From Hell" |
As long as you keep tension on the rope the Kamikaze knot will support your weight until you successfully repel to the bottom and then easily comes undone simply by letting off the tension. That sounds all fine and dandy, but a knot called the Kamikaze that you cut with a knife before you repel off a 100 ft. cliff sounds more than a little dangerous, unless of course you know how to tie this particular knot.
The Kamikaze knot is a variation of the Sheepshank knot. The one difference between the kamikaze and the sheep-shank is you cut the center rope after your done tying the kamikaze knot. This knot takes a lot of practice and a somewhat of crazy person to use, but under the right survival situation where you cannot afford to leave your rope behind, the Kamikaze knot Bear Grylls uses on The Escape from Hell Survival Show might be your best alternative.
Personally I'm not sure I would ever trust a knot that had the word kamikaze in the name, but that's my option and it's good to know how to tie in case I ever really need to use a rappelling set up like this.
One problem with the way Bear Grylls made this rappel on the Escape from Hell Show was he left his anchor on the top of the cliff with no way to retrieve this part of the rigging. Unless it's absolutely necessary this would not be a good idea for a few different reasons. For one he had no way of retrieving his anchor and doesn't know if there's another place to anchor off after he got down on the ledge. It might of been worth walking around until you find a place you could do it in one repel or multiple repels using the Traveler's Knot which would seem a lot safer of an option. Considering the Kamakaze Knot will hold its load until you let off tension, you could also use this when constructing your anchor point and keep cutting off pieces as you make multiple repels, but ya good luck, there's a reason they appropriately named this knot.
One problem with the way Bear Grylls made this rappel on the Escape from Hell Show was he left his anchor on the top of the cliff with no way to retrieve this part of the rigging. Unless it's absolutely necessary this would not be a good idea for a few different reasons. For one he had no way of retrieving his anchor and doesn't know if there's another place to anchor off after he got down on the ledge. It might of been worth walking around until you find a place you could do it in one repel or multiple repels using the Traveler's Knot which would seem a lot safer of an option. Considering the Kamakaze Knot will hold its load until you let off tension, you could also use this when constructing your anchor point and keep cutting off pieces as you make multiple repels, but ya good luck, there's a reason they appropriately named this knot.
Here's a video clip of Bear Grylls on the Escape From Hell Show when he uses the Kamikaze Knot to rapel down a 100 foot cliff. I hope Discovery Channel paid him good to do that survival trick.
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