Welcome To My Gebirgsjager Ropes & Knots Page One

This page and page 2 were made to try to condense together some of the information I have been able to gather, regarding how to tie the knots and the harnesses as used by the Gebirgsjager troops in WW2. Note: I have put the information here for my fellow modellers to use. Please note that the original ideas for this were not mine, although I have used them with my Mountaineer figure and I just wanted to pass on the details.

Please note: That I found the 1.5mm scale polyester rope from Takelgarn Modellbau is the best size for the chest harness, and the 2.0mm scale rope is best for the larger main climbing ropes with my figures. Also the 0.4mm scale rope I used to thread through the hammer end.

  Waist & Shoulder Harness Rope Assembly   Belay Rope Assembly

Waist & Shoulder Harness Rope Assembly

Note: This is the first part of a tutorial which was put together by (Patrick) Heeresbergführer, and he has very kindly allowed me to use it here on my webpage. Patrick's comments are below in italics.

1. 2. 3.

1. In this tutorial, we'll start off with a standard way of tying into a rope for rock climbing used by the German Gebirgsjägers...though this is a fairly standard technique used in mountaineering until the 1950's. This can be used with a 2-man roped climbing team...climbing vertical rock, or by a 3-man roped team when crossing snow fields and glaciers. This is called a "Jägerknoten mit Schulterschlinge" (bowline knot with shoulder sling).         

2. & 3. For 1/6th scale climbing rope, I have found that twisted cotton string dyed in tea makes the best. A standard period climbing rope was 10-12mm in diameter and 30-40 meters in length.

4. 5. 6.

4. & 5.  Now let's try this in 1/6th scale...first take your scale rope and draw out two arm span lengths that will be needed to make the "Jägerknoten mit Schulterschlinge." 6. Take the rope and bring it around the figure's waist.

7.  8. 9. 

7. To tie the "Jägerknoten," first make a loop on the portion of the rope that goes to the main bulk of the climbing rope. 8. Now take the end of the rope...the rabbit...and bring it out of the hole, around the tree, and back through the hole...old boy scout trick to remember how to tie this! 9. Tighten up the knot around the waist.

10. 11. 12.

10. Gather up the loose end of the rope. 11. Bring the end of the rope over the right shoulder... 12. and under the left arm.

13. 14. 15.

13. View of the back. 14. Slide the end of the rope under the shoulder sling... 15. And tie off the end of the rope. This completes the "Jägerknoten mit Schulterschlinge." Now your Gebirgsjäger is ready to..."climb every mountain, follow every dream"...woops, dreaming of the Alps again!

The original forum post by Heeresbergführer for this tutorial is here - Mountaineering

Belay Rope Assembly

Note: This is the second part of the tutorial was put together by (Patrick) Heeresbergführer. And this has helped me immensely with my mountaineer kitbash. Patrick's comments are again below in italics.

Next up on our schedule is how to set up a top belay position. But first, here's a little info from Wikipedia on "Lead Climbing:"

In lead climbing, one person, called the "leader", will climb from the ground up with rope directly attached to his or her harness (and not through a top anchor) while the other, called the "second", "belays" the leader by feeding out enough rope to allow upward progression without undue slack. As the leader progresses, he clips the rope through intermediate points of protection such as active cams, or passive protection such as nuts [In the 1940's only pitons were used as protection]. The leader also may clip into pre-drilled bolts; this limits the length of a potential fall.

Because the climbing rope is of a fixed length, the leader can only climb a certain distance. Thus longer routes are broken up into several "pitches"; this is called "multi-pitching". At the top of a pitch, the "leader" sets up an anchor and then belays the "second" up to the anchor; as the "second" follows the route taken by the "leader" she removes the equipment placed along the way in order to use it again on the next "pitch." Once both are at the anchor, the "leader" begins climbing the next pitch and so on until the top is reached.
In either case, upon completion of a route, climbers can walk back down (if an alternate descent path exists) or rappel (abseil) down with the rope.

1. 2. 3.

1 .So, the leader has made it to the first pitch. Now, he sets up an anchor point to belay the "second." First, he measures out an arm span of rope...  2. & 3.  ...and gathers a loop in his left hand.

4.  5.  6.  7.

4. & 5. Then he ties a "figure 8" knot to fix the loop. 6. & 7. Now the rope is ready to be clipped into the anchor point...

8.  9. 10. 11.

8. & 9. Which is usually a piton and a carabiner placed into the rock behind the leader. 10. & 11. With his anchor set, the leader can belay the second...

With these tutorials I have now been able to complete my mountaineer kitbash, and I still cannot get over how easy Patrick has made it look.

Note: Because of the size of this project and to help the pages load faster, I have had to spread the information over two pages.

Continued on Page Two - Knots Page 2

Scale model rope suppliers

Takelgarn Modellbau - For the 1.5mm and 2.0mm polyester scale rope (best scale rope)

Cornwall Model Boats - For the Hemp rigging thread similar to the type used by Patrick

This page has been made with the very generous help of Heeresbergführer (Patrick Kiser)

And I would like to say thank you for all of the original ideas, and for allowing me to use his pictures here.