Fig. 89. The one man Diamond Hitch is employed by one packer working
alone and requires that he make two trips around the animal in tying
it. The rope is braided into a ring on one end of the cinch. The other
end of the cinch carries a hook. Standing on the near side of the
animal at its shoulder he first lays the middle of the rope across
the pack from forward to back with the free end of the rope forward.
He then throws the cinch over the pack and catches the hook under the
animal’s belly. A loop of the rope is then caught under the cinch hook
and pulled tight. Some packers, in using the one man Diamond Hitch,
find it helps to hold the hitch tight if they take a double turn around
the hook in making the first tightening.
[Illustration: _Fig. 89; Fig. 90_]
Fig. 90. Proceeding with the hitch, the two ropes over the pack
crosswise are then twisted, lifting the forward strand up and back and
pulling the rear strand forward and under. Two turns are made and then
a loop of the rope lying forward and back over the top of the pack is
drawn up between the two twisted ropes as shown. The loop formed on
the off side between the part crosswise of the pack and the part of
the rope crossing lengthwise of the pack, is formed over both corners
of the off side of the pack. Then the loop drawn up between the two
twisted ropes is lowered over the corners of the near side of the pack.
Fig. 91. The final strain is taken on the free end of the rope passing
along the neck of the animal and tied at the forward point of the
diamond with a packer’s knot. If the animal should fall on either side,
the knot is easily reached and untied. The free end of the rope
is tucked under some part of the hitch or looped over the pack or
otherwise disposed of. In making the Diamond Hitch, at no time is the
end of the rope pulled through anywhere. This makes it easy to take off
without becoming snarled.
[Illustration: _Fig. 91; Fig. 92_]
Fig. 92. The Diamond Hitch as mentioned above is frequently tied so
that the knot occurs on the side of the animal opposite the cinch hook
instead of on top. This hitch is tied so that the first loop is lowered
over the rear corner only of the off side of the pack. In the two
other hitches described above, the first loop included both corners of
the pack, and finished with a knot on top. The Diamond Hitch shown is
thrown by two packers.