If you plan to hike Half Dome this summer, you’ll have to plan ahead. Like Mt Whitney, Half Dome is moving to a quota system on weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and holidays. Granted, that quota is still an enormous 400 people per day, but they say that is half of the number they usually see on weekends.
(this is the information available as of this publication in January of 2010)
The permits MUST be reserved ahead of time and are not available in the park. So if you show up on a weekend this June and expect to stroll up Half Dome without planning ahead, you’d be wrong. Enforcement – well, who knows how that will go. I wonder if there will be a ranger standing at the bottom of the cables and asking for permits
See here for more information (and an FAQ). From the website:
Beginning in 2010, all people using the Half Dome Trail above the subdome must have a permit in possession on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays when the cables are up. A maximum of 400 permits will be issued each of these days.
Here is where I make a confession. I have never done Half Dome. I’ve had absolutely no desire to hike along with a herd of people in order to stand on top of that giant chunk of granite. If the right opportunity came along (for example, a sunrise summit on a backpacking trip) I certainly wouldn’t object to doing it, but it’s never been near the top of my todo list. I can think of many other crowdless places in the Sierra where I’d be far happier.
As far as the permit system goes – meh, I’m impartial. I don’t think it will stop idiots from climbing it (see: Mt Whitney) but at least it will help regulate the mass of humanity on the cables, and maybe make it safer too.
I’ve never done Half Dome either. The cables play into it, but I’m with you – there’s something a little less rewarding when you get to the end of a hike and it looks like a tour bus just got dropped off.
I’ve done it four times. Twice up the regular route: once on a Friday and once on a Saturday. I also went up when the cables were down (forgot what day of the week that was but it was obviously off-season). And I’ve also climbed it via a technical rockclimbing route (Snake Dike) on a Friday.
Hiking up on a Friday I think it was as crowded on top as Whitney was the time I did the regular route up to that summit. Though the way up was more crowded than going up Whitney (hikers are more spread out over the Whitney trail since it’s longer). There are also waiting periods on the cable part as some folks get up their nerve to continue up.
It’s worth it but I think the permit system might help. I did a blog post over at rockgrrl.com and include pics of the cable traffic when I went up on a Saturday.
I’m all for the idea of crowd control, but I don’t think this is going to solve the problem it’s attempting to address… looking at the FAQ, this Q/A in particular:
…so now instead of having a clustermess when a storm rolls in and people start scrambling to get off the peak, you’ll have a clustermess when a storm rolls in and everyone at Subdome still wants to ascend, because they’re not allowed to try tomorrow.
IMO, they’ve substituted the (very real) problem of too many people at the top/on the cables with the (equally real) problem of stubborn people pushing through unsafe conditions because “This is my only shot!”
Of course, having said all that, I have no idea what the solution is. Probably “hike Clouds Rest instead”, for me.
I’d guess that that is a problem permits or no. A lot of people who come to Yosemite Valley don’t stay for more than a day or two, and if they’ve committed to a half dome hike it’s usually the only day they’ve got for it. So I imagine people still push on in storms because “this Saturday afternoon is the only day I have a chance to hike Half Dome!” People who have more time wouldn’t be restricted to the permit system anyways (weekdays).
I don’t think the permits will change much. I wanted to see them charge for it and do it every day. I’ve been on the trail for different destinations and the crowd that heads for Half Dome is a different bunch – hauling gallon jugs of water and packless, in shorts and stupid shoes regardless of season. I’ve been on the trail at 1 in the morning and there are lights going up the cables. People are up there 24/7 and unless they station rangers in shifts at the bottom of the subdome they’ll have a hard time enforcing it.
As an annual hiker of Half Dome, I was slightly alarmed when I first heard about the new permit rules. I tend to go up on the spur of the moment, which is an advantage of living in Los Angeles. But after checking out the details, I saw that it wouldn’t affect hikers like me. I’ve climbed Half dome for six years in a row and have made it an ritual of sorts to climb it at least once a year. I always make the trip after Labor Day, and (almost) always mid-week. Still, the crowds, even in early October, can be dispiriting, but what are the options? Not doing it at all? It’s still a unique and yes, thrilling, experience even after 6 times. Yes, there are more scenic vistas in Yosemite (Cloud’s Rest, for example). But if you do go on a less crowded day, your memories will be more about the scenic beauty than what a drag it was waiting to go up (or down). I would avoid summer weekends at all cost, even under the new system.