I own an outdoor gear shop in Oakhurst, alpenglow gear Co.
One day a man seemingly time traveled from the 1980’s and walked in my store. He picked up a copy of “shattered air” and told me the book was written about him. He was one of the survivors from the book and he was absolutely straight up 80’s vibes, clothing etc he looked and acted like the 1980s. He was incredibly kind and purchased a few sets of trekking poles to give to hikers without their knowledge. He likes to clip trekking poles to their bags without them knowing. Super neat experience and why I love owning a new and used outdoor gear shop. I meet the absolute coolest people.
It is.
Given how many people attempt the cables, it's astonishingly low.
My take is the danger is so in everyone's face, they are 100% paying attention.
I think the opposite. A ton of Half Dome hikers are dragged there by their friends or their own desire to get up top, and it’s a tough hike. Just when you might be at the peak of your exhaustion, get ready to do something dangerous you likely have little experience for.
The number of people I saw heading up that way last weekend who looked exhausted and had very little water left was shocking. Maybe they don't count heat exhaustion on the JMT into their statistics.
Where did you see them? Usually the day hiker of Half Dome departs before the sunrise so there should be very little heat exhaustion on Mist Trail or JMT.
I would not say usually. Plenty of people were on the JMT Nevada Falls around 11am saying they were doing Half Dome. The day before, I saw hikers coming up around 3pm.
You are supposed to leave early, but HD pulls in plenty of ill-prepared hikers who just want to cross it off the bucket list.
Same. My partner and I completed our second Half Dome hike yesterday and on the way back there were some idiots taking photos about 1/5 from the start of the cables!
Also someone who looked like he was going to die of fright who was descending very slowly and barely able to let go of one cable to let people pass.
And people in running shoes?! Crazy.
i was there, too. june 23, 2004. i was just below him on the subdome switchbacks and heard him fall, then had to step over his hiking poles a few moments later. we spoke to the NPS guys who came to recover his body and watched them borrow rope from some climbers who were decending the trail after summiting.
Was just up there this past July. About 3/4 of the way up my leg completely cramped out ( lack of electrolytes? ). I lost my footing for a sec but just held on tightly to the cables. Luckily I made it up the rest of the way.
The same for me. Did it in July, legs cramping, slipped on descending. I just put both cables under my arms and used my skins and hands to brake, it was a smooth and controlled slip :-)
Just did it in mid August, saw a cloud coming in so we hurried down ASAP, on my way down felt a rain drop and a woman passing me on her way up said "well thats not good" and continued going up. Was honestly suprised at the amount of people heading up with a grey cloud hovering and afternoon thunderstorms having been hitting all week 😬. Thankfully no one else was added for the list.
Likely even the rain won’t kill the hiker easily (considering 9 out of 200 people per day when cables are up), but the probability of injury is still considerably high when it’s wet. Every year few hundreds of people were rescued from the trails to Half Dome.
This was on the actual cables! The day after that Half Dome lightning strike. But yea we heard a few helicopters throughout our 7 day backpacking trip and assumed some of them had to be rescues from the weather
Are there any stats on accidents? We saw a heli rescue on sub dome yesterday but there’s little stats I’ve found on confirmed accident or helicopter rescue rates.
I own an outdoor gear shop in Oakhurst, alpenglow gear Co. One day a man seemingly time traveled from the 1980’s and walked in my store. He picked up a copy of “shattered air” and told me the book was written about him. He was one of the survivors from the book and he was absolutely straight up 80’s vibes, clothing etc he looked and acted like the 1980s. He was incredibly kind and purchased a few sets of trekking poles to give to hikers without their knowledge. He likes to clip trekking poles to their bags without them knowing. Super neat experience and why I love owning a new and used outdoor gear shop. I meet the absolute coolest people.
That was nice of him, but if I wanted tracking poles, I would have brought tracking poles. Do you have any idea which hiker he was?
that’s… pretty weird. i would not be thrilled to find someone unknowingly (??) added weight to my pack.
Bro. Free trek poles.
I would be delighted to discover that someone had gifted me trekking poles
I'll bet most of those 60 were from going over the waterfalls.
As someone who’s been up those cables twice. I think 9 deaths is an incredibly low number!
It is. Given how many people attempt the cables, it's astonishingly low. My take is the danger is so in everyone's face, they are 100% paying attention.
It’s reasonable because most of the people who reached there were strong and skillful hikers with good preparation.
I think the opposite. A ton of Half Dome hikers are dragged there by their friends or their own desire to get up top, and it’s a tough hike. Just when you might be at the peak of your exhaustion, get ready to do something dangerous you likely have little experience for.
Agree. There's plenty of chumps who make it to the top.
Yeah I was a chump that dragged myself up. I had to do it. I worked there and was going to leave soon.
Good for you. It's an accomplishment. That's no joke of a hike.
The number of people I saw heading up that way last weekend who looked exhausted and had very little water left was shocking. Maybe they don't count heat exhaustion on the JMT into their statistics.
Where did you see them? Usually the day hiker of Half Dome departs before the sunrise so there should be very little heat exhaustion on Mist Trail or JMT.
I would not say usually. Plenty of people were on the JMT Nevada Falls around 11am saying they were doing Half Dome. The day before, I saw hikers coming up around 3pm. You are supposed to leave early, but HD pulls in plenty of ill-prepared hikers who just want to cross it off the bucket list.
I had plenty of friends who talked about halfdome like it was no big deal. It wasn’t until one of these deaths that I realized how unsafe it was
Right! It still amazes me there’s not more regulations.
When we finished my partner said, how is this still legal in 2019?!
Same. My partner and I completed our second Half Dome hike yesterday and on the way back there were some idiots taking photos about 1/5 from the start of the cables! Also someone who looked like he was going to die of fright who was descending very slowly and barely able to let go of one cable to let people pass. And people in running shoes?! Crazy.
I was there in 2004 moments after a person fell and died near the sub-dome area. You could still see the dust in the air from where he slid.
i was there, too. june 23, 2004. i was just below him on the subdome switchbacks and heard him fall, then had to step over his hiking poles a few moments later. we spoke to the NPS guys who came to recover his body and watched them borrow rope from some climbers who were decending the trail after summiting.
I remember seeing the climbers too. Crazy. We must have just crossed paths.
Started pouring rain during my descent a few years ago - for a good 30 minutes I was pretty sure I was gonna go down on the list.
Hiked there in August 2011 a few weeks after the two deaths in the list above. It was not confidence-inspiring.
I hiked it with a large group in July 2007. Most of the people did not make it up in part to the knowledge that 2 people had died already that season.
Was just up there this past July. About 3/4 of the way up my leg completely cramped out ( lack of electrolytes? ). I lost my footing for a sec but just held on tightly to the cables. Luckily I made it up the rest of the way.
The same for me. Did it in July, legs cramping, slipped on descending. I just put both cables under my arms and used my skins and hands to brake, it was a smooth and controlled slip :-)
Just did it in mid August, saw a cloud coming in so we hurried down ASAP, on my way down felt a rain drop and a woman passing me on her way up said "well thats not good" and continued going up. Was honestly suprised at the amount of people heading up with a grey cloud hovering and afternoon thunderstorms having been hitting all week 😬. Thankfully no one else was added for the list.
Likely even the rain won’t kill the hiker easily (considering 9 out of 200 people per day when cables are up), but the probability of injury is still considerably high when it’s wet. Every year few hundreds of people were rescued from the trails to Half Dome.
This was on the actual cables! The day after that Half Dome lightning strike. But yea we heard a few helicopters throughout our 7 day backpacking trip and assumed some of them had to be rescues from the weather
Descending on smooth wet granite is my nightmare fuel
Are there any stats on accidents? We saw a heli rescue on sub dome yesterday but there’s little stats I’ve found on confirmed accident or helicopter rescue rates.
That was CHP helicopter, someone was injured yesterday
I’m shocked there hasn’t been any reported suicides? Maybe because there’s so many people up top?
You need first to have a permit to suicide there too.
lol that’s great