The RTTHH (Round Turn, Two Half Hitch) and the Anchor Hitch are some of the fastest and most reliable methods to quickly secure a single rope that is under tension (something is pulling on it) … a single rope or double line of rope that is being treated like a single rope as we commonly do with Eastern-style bondage.
For instance: You have a wrist, ankle, etc. caught in a Single Column and you now want to anchor the tail of that Single Column to something else … a bed post or a column, to give a random example…
No matter which hand is dominant for you, I recommend that you practice this with both your main and your off hand. That way you can run the rope in a way that makes sense for a given scene without having to mess around on the fly to figure out the other orientation…
The RTTHH is almost the same as a regular Two Half Hitches anchor, but with one extra twist that makes it more stable during the tying process.
The Anchor Hitch is almost the same as the RTTHH, but with one change where you run the first Half Hitch in a different path. This increases the stability even more, but at the cost of adding a tiny bit to the time and requiring a slightly different procedure to tighten it while not losing tension.
Do not use these hitches for suspensions. Frictions for Suspension Hard Points are designed to remain easy to untie no matter how much tension is added. The RTTHH and Anchor Hitch can bind (become difficult to untie) if subjected to significant tension over a period of time. So they are great for non-suspension anchoring (tying someone in a spread eagle, etc.), but not suspension.
For this tutorial, I used Natural 1/4″ (6mm) hemp provided by TwistedMonk.
I use an amazing Natural hemp rope provided by my affiliate Twisted Monk. Check them out!
Video Contents:
- 0:24 – Two Half Hitches, the classic approach
- 0:53 – The RTTHH, Core Technique
- 1:46 – Slipped variants of the RTTHH
- 2:50 – The Anchor Hitch
There are a few variations below, but make sure to understand this core version first, then the variations are easy. I highly recommend you practice the Left Handed Version, too.
There are a few variations below, but make sure to understand this core version first, then the variations are easy. I highly recommend you practice the Right-Handed Version, too.
(This version of the instructions has few displayed steps. If something is not making sense, review the right-handed version of the instructions, which go into more step-by-step detail.)
This is almost the same as the RTTHH, but the first Half Hitch runs inside the cuff of rope. This one requires a different procedure to tighten it without losing tension. (Personally, I rarely use this variant unless the person I am tying wants to *really* fight against the ropes once they are tied.)
Experimentally, I am using “main hand” to indicate your dominant hand and “off hand” for your non-dominant hand. By doing so, the instructions below should work no matter your dominant hand. The only difference being that what you will see in practice will be the mirror of what you see here.
If you have a little extra rope, you can ‘slip’ the second Half Hitch, making things (1) more orderly and (2) a little faster to untie.
If you have more than a little extra rope, you can ‘slip’ both Half Hitches! As long as you seat both firmly, it should be just a secure, and this version is much more orderly than a chaotically dangling rope…