Yosemite bowline form a highly dangerous slip knot. Additional safety is achieved by tying with a tail (see below). When finished, the working end forms a figure eight. Because of the danger of incorrectly tying the Yosemite bowline, it may be safer and less error-prone to use a standard or double bowline with a backup stopper knot added to the tail, such as a double overhand knot tied around the loop. The Yosemite finish can be applied to other bowline variants, such as the double bowline. While the knot's versatility suggests it as a convenient tie-in for attaching a climbing rope to
Knot factors come into play. Even if the rope does not break, a knot may still fail to hold. Knots that hold firm under a variety of adverse conditions are said to be more secure than those that do not. Repeated, dynamic loads will cause virtually every knot to fail. The main ways knots fail to hold are: The load creates tension that pulls the rope back through the knot in the direction of the load. If this continues far enough, the working end passes into the knot and the knot unravels and fails. This behavior can worsen when the knot