Yosemite Finish

SICgripswrote:

Use to use #3 but since learning about the Competition knot 5 years ago, I've exclusively been using it unless climbing in a gym (rare).

https://youtu.be/Au8KiUS4RCc

Why have I never seen this before?!

Apparently it’s AMGA certified:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/107108289/ring-bend-as-tie-in-knot

I’m still alive despite using the comp/bro knot for about ten years 

Jamila W wrote:

This is just a water knot with the rope right?  For some reason I thought you were only supposed to use flat webbing for that knot.  If this is safe enough to tie in with then why can't you use it with cordage for anchors?

It's a overhand with a follow-through. Note: not a re-trace like a figure-8. The free end goes back around (forming the tie-in loop) and follows the original strand back through. No need for a back-up knot and because it's pulling against itself, it can't cinch down so tight that it's difficult to untie. Not as easy to untie as a bowline but easier to tie and untie than a whipped on figure-8 with a Yosemite finish.

For me, a retrace goes back the way that the strand exited the original knot. It goes back through the knot in the opposite direction. A figure-8 tie-in is an example of a retrace. If you do a retrace on an overhand knot, it yields a overhand on a bight.

A follow-through goes around the circuit again in the same direction starting at the beginning. This results in the competition knot.

Mark Pilatewrote:

His friends died laughing at his jokes. Apparently you’re safe Alan. 

Wait is this whole thing some big joke I don't get?  Can someone explain the joke to me?  Why is he being called the best troll ever and how is everyone seeing the joke but me??    I feel like Dwight Shrute right now.   

Drew Neviuswrote:The “Okie Finish” that a bunch of us here have been using for the last 5 years. Instead of pushing the tail down, we push a bight. A few OKC friends taught me this knot at my first 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell comp in 2014 and it’s been my go-to knot ever since. 

*10* years and it’s still my go-to knot

I was climbing with a guide who witnessed me finish the tail like number 3. They corrected me and defined that as a Kentucky finish (no idea if there is any regional pejorative implication there). She continued that it has a higher potential for failure and taught me the proper way, which I guess could be either #1 or 2 depending on how you start your follow through. Also, 

https://www.google.com/search?q=hownot2+yosemite+finsish&oq=hownot2+yosemite+finsish&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKAB0gEIOTcxMGowajeoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f66fa42c,vid:g8513pIsHxw,st:0

Thanks for resurrecting this thread, it’s an interesting read.  The OP’s variations were just called a “Sport Finish” or by the misnomer “Sport Backup” when I learned it in the 1990s.  They were meant to make a figure 8 easier to untie after repeated falls working a sport route.  They are not backup knots.  They do also keep the tail out of the way when making clips.

When I moved to Seattle I heard it called a “Yosemite Finish or Backup”.  But that name is intended for the bowline which actually requires a backup, like someone on this thread pointed out in 2019.  A Sport Finish has a similar appearance but totally different function.

Calling it a Yosemite Finish probably won’t change, though; old habits die hard.

Relevant new video from hownot2

https://youtu.be/nUCR_W-xCqY?si=AX0K-OtVsWa5fLY-

I only just heard of the Yosemite knot capsizing and untying while out at the crag. The Hownot2 clip shows that this failure is more of a party trick than an actual thing, and not a danger with a properly dressed Yosemite finish.

The party who told me about this “concern” said it was a climbing guide demonstrating the failure who brought it to their attention (presumably in the ring mode of failure). I hope they review the clip before painting a good knot in a bad light again. I strongly suspected it was a bullshit claim before I saw the video.