We went to Yosemite planning to hike up to half dome and come back in the
evening but we missed our opportunity to get backcountry permits by 20 minutes.
We talked to a several parks people and every story we heard was conflicted as
to whether half dome was climbable or not. We knew the cables were down so
we planned another route. At the last minute, someone convinced us half
dome was probably doable. Well if any people are doing it, Matt and I
wanted to try, too. We decided to hike up to take a look at these cables
and assess the danger then. After all, the cables being "down" meant
that they were not gone they were just slack against the rock. Normally
they are lifted up so they are like a handrail and steps are added, but they
hadn't done that for this season yet. We camped for the night and went to
the base of the cables early in the morning. It was going to be mildly
stupid to attempt, but definitely possible, so of course we went for it.
There were even loaner gloves at the base of the cables. I would certainly
classify myself as terrified for the majority of the climb up the cables.
When we stopped, I tried to look in to the rock rather than back down. It
was, after all, just smooth granite rock at 45 degrees for the easy parts, the
hard parts were easily 65 degrees. We got to the top right in time to
watch a snowstorm come in. We hung around on the top only long enough to
get a few pics and then we headed back down. The snow was collecting
around the cables, making unnerving slippery wet portions of the cable as we
were descending. Now this is no exaggeration; if you start to fall
climbing this section, you WILL NOT stop, you WILL fall at least a few thousand
feet to your death. We finally made it down, right as a couple of guys we
ran into the day before were arriving. Now those dudes were brave,
wet cables and a snowstorm coming in (they told us not to be on the dome when
clouds were low, it was like a giant lightning rod), and they went right up.
They were from Prague, so I can totally understand that they were not willing to
give up after traveling that far. There were 2 paths at certain sections
of the way up, so we took the one we hadn't seen on the way down. When we
were nearly to the bottom, A ranger came running up the mountain asking us if we
knew anything about someone falling. We opted not to ask later if anything
happened, perhaps it's best not to know.
