Whether you think the new permit system is too rigid or you think it’s the greatest idea since sliced bread, you need to watch the video as a hiker risks his own life for a cell phone battery he dropped.
It’s pretty apparent that the problem isn’t the amount of people climbing Half Dome, it’s the misinformation and hype that’s circulated over recent years that’s led people to believe it’s nothing more dangerous than a walk down Mainstreet USA in Disneyland. It’s not. It’s dangerous. People die for stupid crap like this. People die for NON-stupid crap. If you’ve never hiked this, do your research. This is a strenuous hike with a butt kicker of a climb up and down at the end. If you get hurt, you’re screwed. Help is a LONG ways away. The best thing you can take with you is your brain and common sense.
Video by Summitbaggers via Youtube
Comments
12 responses to “So You Think The New Permit System is Going to Solve the Problems on Half Dome”
I couldn’t have said it better Loyd. I’ve been to the top of Half Dome twice and it was the in-experienced around me that scared me the most. Some risk their lives doing insane things, and then there are those that don’t realize that they’re also risking the lives of those around them while on those cables. The domino effect is real………………. and I haven’t returned due to the last “insane” trip to the top.
There always has to be one that isn’t thinking and that’s all it takes to create a disaster. So good to see that the majority of those making the trip were using their brain.
Good post and great video.
Thanks to all of those who encouraged this idiot to get back on the trail.
Just crazy! You can’t regulate “Stupid”, but the government will try and try and try. Think about those who climb over the rails at Vernal Fall too. Some people think they are invincible.
I’m encouraged by all the people that were trying to discourage the guy from going down there though.
The thing that we love about the wilderness (those of us born with a mostly functioning brain~not people like this) is that there are no warning signs, fences, or barriers. It’s that it’s up to us to survive, to achieve our goals with nothing standing between us and “the great abiss”. The glorious liberty of making our own choices our there in a world nearly untouched by societal restrictions. There will ALWAYS be knuckleheads like this out there no matter how many barriers you find for these idiots….you know Darwin had a good point! The cables of half dome are Darwinism working!
Melissa Maloney Devlin liked this on Facebook.
He should be fined as soon as he gets back down and then banned for life from the area! Here in NV when you ski or board out of bounds at popular resorts and either get lost or injured and require our tiny county to call out search & rescue to assist you from your act of arrogance, you are met before transport to medical facility, if you survived, by the sheriff’s dept and issued a hefty ticket. Can’t believe the stupidity of the human race sometimes!!
Like the others have written, you can’t control STUPID, and that’s what that guy was showing those on the cable. I’ve been up there twice, when it wasn’t crowded, like it is now; and, when there was no permit system. As soon as Sunset magazine played it up, I told everyone that that’s the end of the way climbing Half Dome was going to be. It was going to get crowded and it surely has! Baddddd! My first time up, was with my oldest daughter–then 7-years old. My wife stayed at the bottom of the cable with our youngest–then 5-years of age–for we didn’t trust her. We had no problems and enjoyed everything about the valley and the view. I went back, a month later, to climb up there with an engineering friend, so…kind of odd in one year, to climb it twice, but I do miss that area. Love it, love it!
In watching videos like this and the other videos that show how stupid, people can really be, no wonder there have been deaths up there. As for a new permit system, I haven’t seen it, but doubt whether that’s going to control being stupid! I wonder what they’re thinking when they take that big swan dive? Wow!
You can not legislate for stupidity!
Texting while clinbing
Maybe he was an experienced 5.12 free-solo climber with sticky rubber shoes. Or, maybe the next candidate for the Darwin Award. Maybe the answer isn’t more permits but actually removing the cables. Pull them out, leave the eye bolts, and learn to scramble-climb with solid rope skills if you want to get to the top. That will get rid of most of the riff-raff.
Dale Lewis liked this on Facebook.