Secret Yosemite – DVD

I just bought the DVD of the National Geographic show “Secret Yosemite”. It was broadcast this summer and is now available from the usual video outlets.  I recommend it for all us Half Dome groupies. My only complaint is the narrator they used. He tries to sound like James Earl Jones (Darth Vader) and over dramatizes his descriptions. He is obviously reading a script and has never been there as he mispronounces many formations – such as El Capi“tone”.  It runs 46 minutes and has some good graphics and video shots. It clearly illustrates the molten magna formation of the granite bubble that became the Sierra Nevada. Half of the video films a climb up El Capitan, clearly showing the difficulty of this ascent.  The fragile Texas plate (a flake ready to fall) is shown up close and personal.
There is a good re-enactment of the fatal July 1985 lightning strike on Half Dome. This was described in Bob Madgic’s book Shattered Air.  He has 2 minutes of fame during an interview. (He told me they actually filmed him for over a half-hour, but only used this!) The recreation was a bit hokey as they said the 5 men hid in a cave, yet on the DVD they appear to be huddled against a rock wall.  Oh well, the message is still clear: don’t go up in bad weather.
Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Knowledge is good” – Emil Faber, Faber College, Animal House
*Carpe Diem Experience– Rick Deutsch–www.HikeHalfDome.com*