Half Dome Permit system

So I had the unlucky pleasure of having booked a permit for Half Dome. My brother in law has wanted to hike half dome, and since i have done it a few times, i offered to be his guide.The permits for the trip are actually listed on the Rec.gov website as tours, which could be a little confusing, since they have a different area for permits. Once i booked the tour, which sold out in a few minutes, i received an email confirmation with a barcode on it. That's it, there is nothing in my online account, so i assume this single sheet of paper in an email is the permit. I thought it would of been an individual permit, since everyone hikes at different speeds. I wonder if someone is going to be at the base, scanning papers. When i pulled the email up on a different computer, the barcode then does not display. This seems ripe for fraud. Should be interesting. I have a feeling it will be more like the honor system with backcountry permits, kinda like don't get caught with out it.

Does it have your name on it?

Still, if it's just a print out from your computer it does seem like it could easily be forged. The park does say that this permit system is an interim measure.

Quote
sierranomad
Does it have your name on it?

Still, if it's just a print out from your computer it does seem like it could easily be forged. The park does say that this permit system is an interim measure.

That's the way a lot of ticketing systems work these days. The "print at home" option tends to be popular because a lot of online ticketing systems don't charge for it (or charge less) compared to sending out something on their ticket stock by mail/courier.

I remember my first experience with this kind of system - for Cirque du Soleil when they visited San Francisco in 2000. It worked OK, but they had a measure that the final determination would be if one could provide photo ID and the credit card used to purchase the ticket. They also stamped the page after it had been validated. I almost freaked out because I didn't have a printer handy when I ordered it and the print was available immediately. Their customer service was able to email me the tickets as an attachment.

These days barcode readers seem to be the prime means of venue entry. I've even seen scalpers trying to sell these pages, although I would never buy one. Since even regular tickets aren't torn, I've heard there's some fraud going on even with standard tickets. Some people are dropping the used tickets to their friends once they've entered so that they can attempt to sell them.

The only way they're going to get this to work is if they have a master list of permit numbers and one point controlling entry.

I've heard of other permitting systems that involve printing at home. EBMUD (our local water district) requires permits to hike certain trails around their watersheds. The permit is printed at home on regular paper.

They said the permits were transferable, but not without providing all of your information to someone. On the permit it does list my name, address, phone number, and the last few digits of my credit card.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2010 08:41AM by Roadrash.

Quote
Roadrash
The permits for the trip are actually listed on the Rec.gov website as tours, which could be a little confusing, since they have a different area for permits.

Undoubtedly TOURS is shorthand for TOURist hikeS.

Also see:
<http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,23212,23223#msg-23223>;



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2010 12:15PM by szalkowski.

Permits aren't transferable, right?

Might be a reservation for a permit and not the permit itself. That's how Mount Whitney does things.

Me guess if they say dey are transfersable they aren't.
(dis is sarcasm)

---