Permits to hike to the top of Half Dome are now required seven days per week when the cables are up. This is an interim measure to increase safety along the cables while the park develops a long-term plan to manage use on the Half Dome Trail.
A maximum of 400 permits will be issued each of these days (300 of these permits are available to day hikers). (Before the permit system was implemented in 2010, about 400 people used this trail on weekdays, while about 800 people used this trail on weekends and holidays, on average.)

Note: Backpackers with an appropriate wilderness permit can receive a Half Dome permit when they pick up their wilderness permit with no additional reservation required. Rock climbers who reach the top of Half Dome without entering the subdome area can descend on the Half Dome Trail without a permit.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm

Reservation site: http://www.recreation.gov/tourDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&tourId=294690&cat=1

Yosemite National Park Announces Changes to the Interim Program for Half Dome Cables Day Use Permits
Date: December 13, 2010

Permits to Ascend Cables will be Required Seven Days Per Week

Yosemite National Park announces that Day Use Permits to climb the Half Dome cables will be required seven days per week for the 2011 summer season to increase visitor safety on the cables.

Over the past several years, the popularity of the hike has resulted in large numbers of people using the Half Dome cables, particularly on weekends and holidays. Saturdays and holidays averaged 840 visitors per day, while peak days saw up to 1200 people using the cables. These large numbers of hikers generated significant safety concerns and there was a fatality and serious injuries sustained by park visitors due to these crowded conditions.

The park instituted an interim program for climbing the Half Dome cables in 2010 to address these serious safety concerns. Day Use Permits were required to use the cables on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays during the 2010 season. Although the interim program worked well on the permit days, visitor use on the cables during days in which permits were not required reached peak weekend levels, analogous to peak days before permits were required.

Therefore, to address the consistent crowded conditions on the Half Dome cables, Day Use Permits will be required seven days per week for the 2011 summer season. The Half Dome cables are generally in place from mid-May through mid-October, depending on snowpack and weather conditions.

The Half Dome Day Use Permits will be available starting March 1, 2011 for climbing the cables in May and June, 2011. Subsequent permits will be available at the beginning of each month for permits three months in advance. Reservations for a permit can be made through http://www.recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. Each person climbing the Half Dome cables will be required to have their own permit. Up to four permits may be obtained under one reservation. The permits are free, however, there is a non-refundable $1.50 service charge for each permit obtained.

During this interim program, visitor use and impacts are being monitored. Yosemite National Park Rangers are studying visitor use and safety, assessing the visitor experience, and compiling data that will be analyzed by park managers. An Environmental Assessment process for a long-term plan for the Half Dome cables began public scoping in spring 2010.

A visitor use study on the 2010 Half Dome Cables Day Use Permit is available at http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/half-dome-cables.htm. To learn more about the Half Dome hike please visit http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/halfdome.htm.

Told you

Funny story to me...
Was more or less running down the trail past some peeps and I stopped just in front of them
when I saw the trail counter on the side of the trail...
The lady asked me what it was... I said it was a speed trap... if you go to fast a ranger comes
out of the woods and writes you up.. that's why I stopped...
I told her if you want to screw up the count just walk back and forth in front of it ... a bazillion times...

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I still think 300 permits a day for Half Dome is too much. Every time I hiked in last year, even on weekdays, the trail was overcrowded. And most people were totally unprepared, as has been the case for decades on this trail. More people than not have no daypacks and most carried a jug of water in their hands.

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Ulysses61
I still think 300 permits a day for Half Dome is too much. Every time I hiked in last year, even on weekdays, the trail was overcrowded. And most people were totally unprepared, as has been the case for decades on this trail. More people than not have no daypacks and most carried a jug of water in their hands.

No matter what the quota may be, that trail is still going to be littered with idiots.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2010 09:44AM by szalkowski.

This is also the northern terminus of the JMT, and the trailhead for other destinations - I've known folks to hike Clouds Rest from Happy Isles as a prep for dayhiking Whitney. About the same gain and distance but lower elevation. You're also going to find tons of folks without a clue up there - no map, no real idea of where they are going, but eventually they ask someone and get pointed the right direction (I get asked at least twice each time I go up this trail, which way to the valley, which way to Camp 4, which way to ____).

Unfortunate but all too common.

At least you can get one the night before. Question is can you call NRRS late at night? Otherwise you have to have a computer with internet reception. Kind of difficult if you're in the park. I think the NPR is wise to raise the quota to 400. I think Half Dome is a great place to deposit the lion's share of hikers. It keeps the rest of the backcountry quieter. I don't like paying $1.50, however. I'm wondering where that goes. Does anyone know?

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rightstar76
I don't like paying $1.50, however. I'm wondering where that goes. Does anyone know?

It pays for processing.

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eeek

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rightstar76
I don't like paying $1.50, however. I'm wondering where that goes. Does anyone know?

It pays for processing.

A steal, compared to the eight dollar processing fee for a campsite at ReserveAmerica.

Interesting idea mentioned in the comments after the Modesto Bee news article: Yosemite: Permits mandatory all Half Dome climbs

I kind of like Uncle55's suggestion:

Quote

There ARE ways to alleviate the crowding without preventing people from climbing Half Dome. How about passes to climb the cables in specific time periods... like 8-10 AM, 10-12 noon, noon to 2 PM, and so on. Or maybe try posting a ranger to limit the numbers actually on the cables. Actually charging a real $5 per person fee could easily pay for a monitor....

Yosemite could offer permits that are valid only within specific time periods. If such permits were the only ones available, you can be sure some people would be happy to start hiking at 3 AM to be able to summit Half Dome at 8 AM. Others would be happy to be there for the sunset, if that was the only chance they had to do the climb. Many people start at midnight to see the sunrise from Half Dome. The current system kills that opportunity for most people.

I'm just saying the park service could use a little more imagination -- if they would just try.

I wonder if there is any way to pass this idea along to the people who make the rules.

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. . Whitney Hikers Association . . .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2010 09:07AM by SteveC.

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SteveC
Interesting idea mentioned in the comments after the Modesto Bee news article: Yosemite: Permits mandatory all Half Dome climbs

I kind of like Uncle55's suggestion:

Quote

There ARE ways to alleviate the crowding without preventing people from climbing Half Dome. How about passes to climb the cables in specific time periods... like 8-10 AM, 10-12 noon, noon to 2 PM, and so on. Or maybe try posting a ranger to limit the numbers actually on the cables. Actually charging a real $5 per person fee could easily pay for a monitor....

Yosemite could offer permits that are valid only within specific time periods. If such permits were the only ones available, you can be sure some people would be happy to start hiking at 3 AM to be able to summit Half Dome at 8 AM. Others would be happy to be there for the sunset, if that was the only chance they had to do the climb. Many people start at midnight to see the sunrise from Half Dome. The current system kills that opportunity for most people.

I'm just saying the park service could use a little more imagination -- if they would just try.

I wonder if there is any way to pass this idea along to the people who make the rules.

IMHO I think that suggestion is ridiculous.

Guy with permit of 8-10am thinks "it's easy"... ends up not getting to subdome until 11am and the
ranger there says what?

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> Guy with permit of 8-10am thinks "it's easy"... ends up not getting to subdome until 11am and the
ranger there says what?

Same thing he says to people in the current system who don't have the permit:

"Turn around and go back!"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2010 09:17AM by SteveC.

It was a rhetorical question...

Perhaps no one read the post by billy boy on ur site:

"Talked to the ranger at length at the subdome
when went up it on dayhike up Clouds and Quarter Domes
and Liberty Cap... he said no one has been
denied going up the dome this year... the permit
system is working great.. crowds are moving to the
weekdays... and since it's working so well...
permits will be required every day next year."

Key is "No on has been denied going up this year"

The permit system will work. Just give it some time.

Monitoring at the cables perhaps may work. But it is better to just
have the stupid permits. That way the general pop. knows
"you need a permit" just like Whitney.

It's in the same realm as signing a permit with rules and regs on it.
The only reason that is done is so that when bozo doesn't follow
the rules and gets caught on it the guy setting them straight
doesn't have to have some big argument with "I didn't know that".

I find it pretty funny anyone complaining about the charge on whitneyzone
since SEKI charges 15 bucks for a backcountry permit which
were suppose to be always free.

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chick-on
I find it pretty funny anyone complaining about the charge on whitneyzone
since SEKI charges 15 bucks for a backcountry permit which
were suppose to be always free.

When did SEKI start doing that?

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eeek

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chick-on
I find it pretty funny anyone complaining about the charge on whitneyzone
since SEKI charges 15 bucks for a backcountry permit which
were suppose to be always free.

When did SEKI start doing that?

Many many years ago.

They started "suggesting" it in about 2003. It soon became mandatory.

I pray that Yosemite doesn't take the same tact.
It blows IMO.

During self-reg time it's free in SEKI.

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Quote
chick-on

Quote
eeek

Quote
chick-on
I find it pretty funny anyone complaining about the charge on whitneyzone
since SEKI charges 15 bucks for a backcountry permit which
were suppose to be always free.

When did SEKI start doing that?

Many many years ago.

They started "suggesting" it in about 2003. It soon became mandatory.

I pray that Yosemite doesn't take the same tact.
It blows IMO.

During self-reg time it's free in SEKI.

Fairly certain that I first encountered it in 2005.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2011 11:30AM by szalkowski.

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szalkowski
Fairly certain that I first encountered it was in 2005.

Sounds about right. 110% positive we were suggested to "donate" in 2003.
I couldn't believe it. I chucked it in the garbage.

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