Volume 49, Number 1, Spring 2000

LETTERS

I enjoyed the item on Jacob Rabinow (SW, Winter 99-00). However, the rope climber's dilemma he described was solved centuries ago in the form of a knot called the sheepshank, which stays intact while taut--even if a strand within it is cut--but can readily be shaken apart when the tension is released. You can use it to rappel down a cliff and then salvage all but the top few feet of your rope. Click on www.troop9.org/knots/sheep.htm for an animated demonstration of how to tie one, courtesy of a Boy Scout troop in Montana.

Ralph Bonheim, Freelance
Brooklyn, NY