There is a great article in the San Francisco Chronicle this weekend entitled, "DANGER ON THE DOME". It's subtitled, "Overcrowding: Hikers swarming Yosemite's Half Dome create a bottleneck at the treacherously steep granite climb to the summit". I've never climbed Half Dome, and hadn't realized that a climb to the top could easily be accomplished as a day hike. I guess I'm in the minority of Yosemite travelers that didn't know this, because have a look at the photos in the article! Everyone is climbing that thing. In fact, the article says waiting to ascend may take 45 minutes or more. I don't think I'd feel too comfortable in that position, stuck on a 45 degree slope hoping the guy in front of you doesn't fall backwards. I mean, look at that, people are stacked on top of each other climbing those Park Service provided cables up the mountain.
The article gives focus to the dangers present hiking this challenging route. Among the dangers cited, people are arriving quite unprepared. Folks don't bring enough water, and their hiking gear is sub-par (did you catch the photo of the person climbing the mountain in sandals?). As you may recall, three people have died on Half Dome in just the last year, and according to the article, a fourth would have been a goner if his clothes hadn't caught on the cable before he slipped over the edge.
The article ends with some interesting facts regarding deaths in the park. While Half Dome has received some attention lately, people are more likely to die in water related accidents -- like falling from the top of a waterfall. Gruesome.
Comments
The Park service does not need to put the cable up in a wilderness. Since they have, it encourages the action of climbing half dome. Since they encourage it, they should require harnesses and clippin onto the cable. Anything less is criminal.
Take the cables down. Put a bolted climbing route up where the cables were. It would be a nice easy climb. A great experience for a guided beginner climber and much safer. I climbed the cables a few years ago, in May, there wasn't very many people there. If got to the cables and saw that many folks going up I would have gone back to camp. That's not the kind wilderness experience I'm looking for, so you normally won't see me in the park duirng the major holidays. The picture above looks more like an amusement park ride than a back country scramble. By the way, if the park goes through with some of the plans it has to increase the amount of users in the park this amusement park type of "wilderness experience" will be the only kind we'll ever see.
Forget the Access Fund donate to the the Friends of Yosemite Valley.
Shaggy K.
Truckee, CA
Yosemite National Park (CA)
Visitor Death On Half Dome Trail
Valley rangers received a report of an unconscious and unresponsive man on the Half Dome trail about a half mile up from the Sunrise trail intersection early on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 11th. Off-duty park safety officer Roger Farmer soon arrived on scene and reported that CPR was in progress. Helicopter 551 was immediately requested and flew to the area. Ranger/paramedic Keith Lober and ranger Jason Gayeski-Peters heli-rappelled to the man’s location. The victim. Jose Vasquez, 53, of Lodi, California, was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was short-hauled from the area. The cause of death has not yet been determined. [Submitted by Leslie Reynolds, Valley District Ranger]
I am going to climb half dome the last weekend in September. I want to be as safe as possible and get a harness and caribiners. However, I have never done such a hike that would remotely require this, so I have no idea where to start looking. All I am finding are harness for those who would do such climbs as the face of half dome. I am doing the back side. Any suggestions?
Yea, maybe we should have elevator shafts running up the inside of the dome too, and an emergency staircase running down the face. Grow up. The park service does not need to put trails in the wilderness either. Since they do, should they put drinking fountains every 500 yards? The truth is, people do not need to go into the wilderness. When they do, they should be willing to accept any risks entailed.
I read the article with great interest. I have heard for years about the deaths of a couple of students who climbed the dome in stormy weather with 7 other companions. Is this the July 25, 1985 occurrence? If anybody knows any more details about this I would appreciate it. I would like to know how the others involved have fared. Thanks
As late as the 1870s, Half Dome was declared "perfectly inaccessible",[1] but it may now be ascended in several different ways. Thousands of hikers reach the top each year by following a trail from the valley floor. The trailhead is only 2 mi (3.2 km) from Half Dome itself, but the circuitous route is 8.5 mi (13.7 km) long. The final ascent is accomplished by following a pair of metal cables raised on posts up the peak's steep but somewhat rounded east face. The cable route was constructed in 1919, but followed close to the route of George Anderson's October, 1875 first ascent made by drilling iron eyebolts into the smooth granite.
The argument that people might die on Half Dome so it shouldn't be so accessible is as illogical as saying that people might die in a car crash while driving Tioga Road so it shouldn't be open. Of course someone could die on Half Dome. Or on the highways. Or at Glacier Point. There is reasonable risk for great reward in Yosemite. The careless fool who climbs over the guard-rail, splashes in the water, and washes to his death over the falls shouldn't be a reason that the rest of us to miss the spectacles that this park offers, including the Half Dome ascent. Check the stats; most of the Half Dome deaths have occurred when the cables are down for the season and the Park Service recommends NOT making the climbg.