Re: Going down the cables

Wuz ur pt. to annoy me?

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chick-on
Wuz ur pt. to annoy me?

Orange!

Watched this before I had my coffee this AM. Gave my stomach the queezies.

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Louis
Watched this before I had my coffee this AM. Gave my stomach the queezies.

It's much better to go down backwards. Then your feet get pushed into the rock and you have great traction.

I see whatcha mean Lou. I reckon I'll wait till they put in a elevator...or is that alligator.

The video didn't even get down to the really steep part.
Light traffic day. Not many people on the cables.
I'm quite surprised to see the people using carabiners. I've never seen that before ( although maybe things have changed since my last time up there ). If you're that worried about it, should you be there? I'd think that the exposure while you're clipping on and off would be more dangerous than just holding on for dear life.
This video makes it obvious how narrow the current cables are and emphasizes the need for another cable so you can have simultaneous up/down paths.

That made me want to cry. And then I read that it wasn't even on the steep part. *sigh*

The slope is not really all that steep even in the worst spots. It's the slipperyness of the granite that is the big worry. When wet it's like its been oiled. When it's dry it's good to have sticky soles on your shoes. And go down the cables backwards or at least sideways holding on to one cable or the other with both hands. Use a sticky pair of gloves for going up and a slidey pair for going down. And stay focused.

The guys in the video had two biners and hooked up on the upside of the stanchion before releasing on the downside. To me this process requires too much busy work and could lead to the old "shoot the gun blow the smoke, shot the gun blow the smoke, blow the smoke shoot the gun".

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Old Dude

I'm trying to work up my nerve to do Half Dome some day. I have terrible falling-phobia.

Me too!! I think staying focused on the area of just a few feet around you while on the cables works best. Don't do any sightseeing until at the top and well off the cables. Coming down the same thing. Boss the people coming up and make them go around you while you are on the way down. Accommodate no one.

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Old Dude

Or you can join me in my appreciation of less tourist trammeled peaks that don't require you to tolerate the hordes.

Mt Dana is shorter, more than twice as high, with better views. No cables necessary. The only trick is staying on one of the many use trails to avoid the need for bouldering. Once there you get an awesome panoramic view of Mono Lake, Saddlebag, Gaylor basin, and most of Yosemite to the south of you.

This is also on my list of places to go. And if you promise me that there are fewer people, it may get moved up the list.

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itchbay
This is also on my list of places to go. And if you promise me that there are fewer people, it may get moved up the list.

Do it as a backpack not a day hike. That way you can beat the day's crowd.

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eeek

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itchbay
This is also on my list of places to go. And if you promise me that there are fewer people, it may get moved up the list.

Do it as a backpack not a day hike. That way you can beat the day's crowd.

She's talking Dana.

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chick-on
She's talking Dana.

Oops

The pink fowl is correct, it's 13k and the dome is around 8,500 or so... but it feels that much higher.

There is a well established use trail up there, but the only folks other than my two friends sharing the peak were a young couple who became engaged while we were there. I think a lot of folks start but turn around - it's uphill 2/3 of the way, and we saw folks coming up who never arrived. The last step up to the top when the lake comes into full view knocks your socks off.

Almosty,
The Old Dude has been up Dana and up da Dome, twice.
He probably just forgot.

Dana's not twice as high, though.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2010 01:56PM by chick-on.

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mrcondron
The slope is not really all that steep even in the worst spots. It's the slipperyness of the granite that is the big worry. When wet it's like its been oiled. When it's dry it's good to have sticky soles on your shoes. And go down the cables backwards or at least sideways holding on to one cable or the other with both hands. Use a sticky pair of gloves for going up and a slidey pair for going down. And stay focused.

The guys in the video had two biners and hooked up on the upside of the stanchion before releasing on the downside. To me this process requires too much busy work and could lead to the old "shoot the gun blow the smoke, shot the gun blow the smoke, blow the smoke shoot the gun".

I don't know... I am warming up to the double biner idea- issue is, with days/moments of lots of traffic (bodies) one slip and the biner will catch at next post- but how many people will you knock down like bowling pins?

If you fall off the cables to the south you'll go over the the edge. I don't think the bowling pin thing would happen.

And I do remember going up Dana and HD. I remember other stuff too but I won't bring it up.

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Old Dude

See, all this talk about going over the edge is making me much less likely to do it. I don't need to be "flat trail" safe, but I don't want a "strong breezes kill" or "too crowded to be safe" dangerous either. Happy medium.

I think that if you got to the cables and saw how easy it was and how short the trip to the top is you would do it. It's not really that bad.

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Old Dude

I suppose if you own rock climbing shoes, it would be a good idea to change into them at the bottom of the cables...

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hotrod4x5
I suppose if you own rock climbing shoes, it would be a good idea to change into them at the bottom of the cables...

I wouldn't bother hauling them.

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eeek

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hotrod4x5
I suppose if you own rock climbing shoes, it would be a good idea to change into them at the bottom of the cables...

I wouldn't bother hauling them.

So it's not that slippery that an extra 1 and a half lbs. in a pack isn't worth it?

I have been up/down Half Dome 5 or 6 times in the last 30 years and, besides the crowd issue, the major problem I have noticed is that the granite (and cables) have developed a "glaze". The last time I took equipment that I thought would be helpful and it just didn't seem to make a difference in the traction situation. Perhaps silicon-surfaced gloves or shoes would be helpful. I think whatever gives good traction on the equivalent of a polished granite countertop might be helpful. Suction cups, anyone?

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

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Frank Furter
I have been up/down Half Dome 5 or 6 times in the last 30 years and, besides the crowd issue, the major problem I have noticed is that the granite (and cables) have developed a "glaze". The last time I took equipment that I thought would be helpful and it just didn't seem to make a difference in the traction situation. Perhaps silicon-surfaced gloves or shoes would be helpful. I think whatever gives good traction on the equivalent of a polished granite countertop might be helpful. Suction cups, anyone?

Dawg,
You are spot on. Went up in two-double-ought-nine with the cables laying down... and lots o traction.
This year... cables in locked and upright position... The shoes I had on were ok, not great, and I
was sliding all around... no way in heck would I want to be up there with a line o peeps just waiting
and waiting and waiting... no way.... if it was guaranteed to be like that I would bring biners and
harness and slings/daisies to tie in. I felt WAY safer going up with the cables on the ground, and
I know that sounds crazy. They are really going to have to do something to scuff it up ... it's
getting bad IMO. Although maybe I shouldn't have tried to get another trip out of my hike-on shoes. ???
In the spots where there was a missing 2x4 I was flopping around to get up 2 stantions...
I don't like to sugar coat things... so probably scaring the crapola out of Itchy. Itchy, you should
go up there... and go up the subdome... that will be interesting for you... get to to the base of
the cables and look up... and just go up a little bit... and see how you feel... or just turn around
and head back down... plenty of people only get to the cables... and plenty don't even go up
the subdome.
Have fun

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Chick (on) so when you did the dome with the cable down, you must have walked in a different path than the center? The outside? Can't you do that with the cables up?

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hotrod4x5
Chick (on) so when you did the dome with the cable down, you must have walked in a different path than the center? The outside? Can't you do that with the cables up?

I tend to never be on center..

When the cables are down they floppy way over where the wear isn't.

Sure, you can go outside the cables and it will be stickier out there. Most peeps don't do that.

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hotrod4x5
Chick (on) so when you did the dome with the cable down, you must have walked in a different path than the center? The outside? Can't you do that with the cables up?

A fair number (maybe 3-5%) of people will go down adjacent to the cables. Less frequent occurrence to climb alongside the cables when going up (usually to pass), in my experience. The irony is that most adventurous things become safer as more people do them. In the case of Half Dome, I believe that the human effect has been to make it MORE dangerous than it was in, say 1970.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Thanks. Yeah, I'm a big old baby. Part of it is the pressure from the people around me to go at their pace. I didn't go out on the ledge at the top of Yosemite Falls. I kinda regret that, but there was the crowd factor, and the fact that I was exhausted and dehydrated (I was a serious hiking noob). I wouldn't even consider going to Half Dome except in the way way off season when I could be reasonably assured that there wouldn't be a terrible crowd. If it's just a matter of managing to get up a wide dome, I could probably manage that. It's the smaller, narrower climbs that I don't like. I didn't get past the first little boulder at Indian Arch this summer.


That's me down in the corner, braced between rocks, and holding on for dear life. The concern there was more about the huge drop off below, though. I may be a Capricorn, and stubborn as a goat, but I don't climb like one.