Two on a glacier – tie knots in the rope

For two person glacier travel, here’s a more modern technique.

Tie knots that form a loop (overhand, fig 8, butterfly) every 3 or 4 feet between you and your partner. This does two things: 1) adds friction as the knots rub and catch in the snow to hopefully make a faster catch and thus a shorter crevasse fall, and 2) the loops can be used as points of aid to step in or pull on for the person who fell in. The knots do complicate rigging a mechanical advantage raising system, but overall the advantages of having them outweigh the downsides.

See a diagram and more two person crevasse rescue tips here

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Two on a glacier – tie knots in the rope