ed to slide by about 1500kg and found a new hold after it got a little release and started the procedure again until the machine was not able to continue. That does not mean that the other knots are too weak. Their breaking strength is still enough. They just work different. There is a picture I use: It is like driving 1300 VW Beetle and changing to a Porsche. They both are cars and bring you safe from one point to the other just the clutch works a little different. But anyway you should not learn a knot that you depend your life on out of a book. It does not matter how it is called. Knots are an art of understanding, an old science given from one generation to the other.Kay-Olaf Busemann has won multiple Tree Climbing Championships all over Europe and has been a leading contender for the International Championship for several years now. He is from Freiburg, Germany.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------By Francois Dussenne (with Frederic Mathias)The evolution of ideas and techniques throughout the world is sometimes unexpected. In Europe right now, I see more and m,ore climbers using the Blake knot "made in the USA" and I hear that on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the "Machard tresse" is getting very popular. Maybe new stuff is simply very attractive! The point is though to look at it in an objective way that and think about the good and bad for the sake of efficiency and safety.I discovered the Machard tresse from a videotape when I was in school ten years ago in France. The climber who demonstrated this knot was Jean Pieplu was working for Francis Dejonghe near Paris. It looked like another knot I knew, the Machard, but with a braid added to it (that's what "tresse" means in French). So I picked it up form this tape and started working with it. The obvious advantages were the smoothness and fluidity. I've always looked for lightness and freedom in motion. The Machard tresse gave me a ...
