HALF DOME CABLES

Today I need to talk about the cables at Half Dome.  The cables allow the hikers to ascend the final 425 feet to the top of Half Dome. This last part of the hike makes the first 4312 feet of ascension seem like a piece of cake by comparison. Rick Deutsch, author of "ONE BEST HIKE: YOSEMITE'S HALF DOME" has the same sense of humor as my brother when it comes to minimizing just how harrowing that final ascent is:

...the Half Dome hike becomes an extremely strenuous one.  Included is a harrowing 425 foot vertical climb up the approximately 45-degree incline on the back side of the granite slope.  Not to worry; this is accomplished with the aid of two steel cable handrails.

Not to worry...Two steel cable handrails?  Really? This makes it sound like one is holding onto a bannister while walking up a staircase. It is not quite that way. In discussing this hike with my brother two days later, we were trying to remember how many sets of poles we had traversed in order to get to the top.  I found my answer in Deutsch's book

Each of the two cables is actually assembled in thirds, with each run anchored to the granite rock.  The cables are held upright by 68 pairs of 3-foot pipes placed into 5-inch holes drilled into the rock.  To allow a hiker to stand vertical, 2-by-4-foot boards are loosely fastened to the pipes.

Although Yosemite National Park is open year-round, the trail to the top of Half Dome is not.  Again, I return to Deutch's book.

The pipes and boards are put in place by the NPS (National Park Service) trail crew every late May (weather permitting) and removed in early October (usually after Columbus Day).  It takes about 20 skilled people to carefully handle the pipes and boards.  They are secreted away in the off-season.  The cables themselves remain on the mountain year-round.  Although not prohibited, it is not advised to ascend Half Dome during the off-season unless you are a skilled big-wall climber.  It is very dangerous to use only the cables to rappel up and down. 

As I re-examine the passages of this book that speak of the cables - I discover that the author of "ONE BEST HIKE: YOSEMITE'S HALF DOME" is a master of understatement.  That he wrote that it is not advised to ascend Half Dome during the off-season is unintentionally funny.  As far as I am concerned that would be the equivalent of saying: It is not advisable to jump out of an airplane without a parachute! Both statements clearly good advice, and both statements seemingly unnecessary!  Just one man's opinion.

About 6 miles into the hike up the mountain, I was asked by my brother if I would consider making this same hike again.  At this point along the trail, I had not seen the final ascent other than pictures on the internet.  I emphatically replied that I would definitely do this again.  Shortly after making the final ascent and managing the cables back down to the sub-dome, I quickly amended my previous statement.   No, I would not be interested in making this hike again.  I would like to now amend this statement one time more.  I would make this hike again.

I realized that the biggest obstacle to climbing the cables and overcoming the 45-degree slope to the top of Half Dome was my increasing worry with every advancing step that I was going to have to figure out a way to get down.  As it turned out, navigating the cables down was much easier.  It did not require great strength.  Compared to the trip up, it was no problem.  This is not to say that it was simple, just that it was much easier.  Certainly the result of slipping would have been catastrophic, but one is not battling gravity in quite the same way on the way down.  And that makes a world of difference!

According to the Rick Deutsch book, more than 40,000 people attempt the Half Dome hike each year and most are successful.  This seems like a counter-intuitive statement at first.  If one takes into account the planning needed to secure a permit, and preparing for the hike by bringing the proper equipment, food and water after completing the proper physical training - I can see why a group drawn from this set of people would be successful.  There are no requirements set by the National Park Service restricting anyone based on age, size or strength.  THERE ARE MORE RESTRICTIONS FOR RIDES AT DISNEYLAND THAN THERE ARE AT HALF DOME.  At Half Dome there are NO restrictions.  Although no official records are kept, it appears that the common lowest age of successful hikers up Half Dome are as young as 10 years old.  Rick Deutsch claims to know people over the age of 80 who have made the ascent.  I made my ascent 42 days before my 58th birthday.  I can IMAGINE having the physical strength to do this again for a few more years - although I am guessing that that window will be shutting down before too long. That particular biological clock is ticking away inside of me...

The last tidbit of information that I want to share today is the length of the final ascent. As mentioned, the elevation of this ascent is 425 feet.  Rick Deutsch in his book uses the Pythagorean Theorem to divine the actual distance a hiker has to travel the cables.  He assumes a 45-degree angle (which might even be understated) and estimates the distance at a bit over 600 feet.  Climbing up that mountain that final 600 feet of an 8.2 mile hike from the trail head was the hardest 600 feet I have travelled in my life.  And absolutely worth it!  Getting down again also had it own rewards!

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On the way down from the summit of Half Dome I managed a selfie. In the photo my left hand is holding onto the cable and you can see the a part of the cable on my right.  As I remember it, I was about  2/3 down when I thought it was selfie time.

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 Saturday MENU

breakfast  oatmeal, bacon, three poached eggs                                550 calories
lunch        three KIND bars: Almond & Coconut                            570 calories
dinner       Homemade Chili, red delicious apple                             968 calories
SNACK   three Keebler fudge cookies                                            255 calories

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 2343 CALORIES

Two days after the Half Dome hike soreness kicked in, big time.  I felt a tightness in my thighs that made it difficult to climb up or down even one flight of stairs.  This did not prevent me from taking a 90 minute power-walk on the Chicago lakefront while my daughter was attending an enrichment class in preparation for a high school placement test.

MapMyWalk 6.74 miles  (14104 steps)  90 minutes                 1287 calories

CALORIES BURNED 1287 CALORIES

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Saturday net calories 1056 calories

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fitbit day 31

20926 steps
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final thought for the day:
According to the sign at the trail head, the trail to the summit is 8.2 miles.  According to Rick Deutsch, the cables portion of the trail is approximately 600 feet.  Those cables are the most talked about part of this trail.  Mathematically, they represent a tiny fraction of the distance: 

Total trail length=5280 ft/mile x 8.2 miles=43296 feet

600ft divided by 43296 feet=1.3%.

That last 1% of the Half Dome Trail is a portion of the trail that one will never forget.  I know I won't.
   

GENESIS OF THE HALF DOME TRIP

This morning I begin by quoting my own blog from April 19, 2015

My brother Andy has been trying to organize a trip with a small group of climbers for the past three years.   Two years ago his trip was scuttled during the United States Federal Government partial shut-down.  Last year, again, the trip was scuttled when the park was closed due to huge wild fires just two days before the planned summit.  Apparently, it was God's plan that I be invited and included in this expedition.  God was just waiting for me to lose 90 pounds so that I could be invited and would agree to participate.

The trip is scheduled for Thursday, October 1 in nearly six months time.  I think I have time to train and get myself physically and mentally prepared for this challenge.  The hike immediately becomes another one of my 'life-long dreams.'  (although this dream began less than 48 hours ago)

The weather forecast in the days leading up to October 1 were increasingly bad.  It was starting to appear to me that I had joined a doomed expedition.  This group of Half Dome hikers already had two consecutive cancellations in their history.  Our group was eating dinner in the Ahwahnee Lodge on Wednesday night and when we all saw that the forecast called for increasing probabilities of rain for Thursday as the day progressed, a true damper was cast over the evening.  One can hike in the rain.  One cannot climb up the final ascent if that slick granite (when dry) is actually wet.  The chance for rain by the 2:00PM hour was 100%.  None of us could actually recall seeing a forecast that was so sure of itself.  My experiences with weather reports is that the probability of rain given by meteorologists can be 80% while it is actually raining!   So, it did appear that rain was going to be part of our day.  And it was.  And it mattered not - as the rain held off just long enough for us to get to the final ascent and down again.  This trip had been 'cursed' twice before, long before I had gotten involved (cancelled by government shutdown, cancelled by wildfires)  Apparently, God, wanted to see us sweat a little bit - before allowing us to proceed to our goal.  In the end, God was cooperative.  So, I say this: Thank God. (literally)

Once we had made the summit and navigated the cables back down to the sub-dome, and managed to hike off the subdome back to the tree line, it did start to rain again.  For a little while it rained hard.  I will be honest, I couldn't have cared less.  I was still focused on thinking about what I had just accomplished.  The hike still had another 9 miles to go before we returned to our car which was parked in Curry Village.  In fact, before the day was over, we would actually see deep blue skies. which were followed by more rain.  God threw us no more curveballs that we couldn't handle.

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I checked the type of workouts that I was doing back when I initially agreed to participate in this hike.  Apparently I had already made the switch to the elliptical machine from the original workout of choice, which had been the treadmill.  On April 19, when I agreed to participate in the hike, my workout was 42 minutes on the elliptical machine and the machine was reporting a burn of just under 500 calories.  I am well aware that the calories reported by exercise equipment is not accurate.  However the statistics that these machines produce are very effective in showing relative performance and improvement.  On the very same machine that I was burning under 500 calories in 42 minutes, I currently burn 2000+ calories in 92 minutes with the resistance setting set to maximum.  Does this mean that my workouts today on that same machine requiring 300% more energy?   (500 calories compared with 2000 calories)  Actually, that is exactly what I think it means. It is clear that I vastly improved my strength and endurance in the 165 days advance notice I was given before the day of the hike.

Back then, in April I had no experience climbing a flight of stairs.  This time, I am going to quote my own blog from Monday May 25th,

My confidence started to uptick when I did nothing more exotic than bounding up five flights of stairs on the way to my workout on Saturday.   On Sunday, my confidence SOARED when I discovered that I could walk up 13 (thirteen) flights of stairs from my 12th floor apartment to the 25th floor where the fitness room is located.  If I can do this, and I can, because I did, then maybe I really can train to ascend 4800 feet from the base in the valley of HALF DOME to its Summit.  I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN ME.  It feels great. No longer scared, I am more excited than ever.  I am going to continue stair climbing. My building is 25 floors from ground floor to the top where the fitness room is located.  I will work on navigating all 25 floors prior to working out... Once I accomplish that, I may start to time myself to get better at this.  Now I also know that I don't have to be fearful of stepping onto a STAIRMASTER machine if/when I see one at a YMCA.  I should, and I will embrace the opportunity.  

It is very enjoyable for me to remember a time, just four months ago that I was crowing about my new ability to climb 5 and then 12 flights of stairs.  I was crowing about this because at the time it was only five months earlier that I remembered how I struggled to walk up three flights of stairs to visit some neighbors for dinner.  When I discovered that I could walk up 5 and then 12 flights of stairs without getting winded, I was genuinely very proud of myself.  It is important to remember that the training required to walk up 5 or 12 flights is not quite sufficient to get oneself prepared for a 5000 foot climb.  The thing is, one has to start somewhere... One has to start at the point where one is at.... I did start.  It was only three weeks ago when I successfully proved to myself that I could climb 400 flights of stairs in one day - because I did it.  After that accomplishment, I will admit that I had the greatly increased confidence that I could successfully navigate Half Dome.

Confidence though is a funny thing.  On Tuesday, in San Carlos after 'checking in' at my brothers house.  I walked with Jimmy (the photographer of the stupendous photo below) back up the hill from town with our small bag of groceries.  I don't know if the hill was 150 feet or 200 feet.  All I do know is that the steep incline of this hill was difficult and challenging. That grocery walk to 'downtown' San Carlos sapped a lot of the confidence that I had built up over nearly 6 months.  It turned out that that was my own mind playing tricks with me.  I did do almost everything I needed to do to be prepared for Half Dome.   The one thing I avoided, which I now know that I shouldn't have was working on upper body strength.  Climbing those cables for the last 150 feet required every ounce of strength in my arms.  One does not simply walk up to the summit while holding onto the cables.  One uses the cables to to advance inch by inch.  I do think that that only those who have done this can understand this.  I just did it, and I am going to be remembering and relishing this accomplishment for the rest of my life.  

Our team of six hikers included Jimmy Ferguson who is a very serious photographer hobbyist. (instagram: jrfbrooklyn) Not only did he take this picture, but he first 'discovered' that this would be a cool picture if anyone was 'crazy' enough to sit out on that ledge.  Apparently, among the six of us, I was the craziest.  The truth is, there was ZERO DANGER in getting to this spot - although it is not a great place for someone uncomfortable with looking down.   I treasure this photo.  A few weeks from now, I am looking forward to seeing the version of this shot taken with 200mm black and white film, also by Jimmy.

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224.6 lbs

I weigh 224.6 lbs.

I lost 2.2 lbs this week

I have lost 84.4 lbs in 283 days. Today begins Day 284.

I will always be at the beginning of a journey that never ends.

I weigh 224.6 (283 days ago I weighed 309 lbs)

I have lost 27.3% of my weight since Dec 24.

I have a BMI, body mass index of 30.04 

I had a 42.0 BMI on Dec 24 just 276 days ago (Class III obesity)

I had a goal set nearly 6 months ago to train for  a Half Dome hike.  Today, I have a question for myself:  Now What?
Luckily, I have an answer for myself as well: Keep Going.

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 Friday MENU

breakfast  Apples/Cinammon Quaker Oatmeal, mixed fruit salad  620 calories 
lunch        SUSHI                                                                             680 calories
dinner       (during plane trip) apple, granola, toasted coconut      1550 calories
SNACKS Vanilla Powerbar, genoa salami w/provolone cheese     400 calories

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED 3250 CALORIES

calories burned

AFTER HALF DOME HIKE - GOOD DAY TO GIVE MY BODY A REST.
We checked into a Salida, California Marriott Fairfield Thursday evening.  In the morning, we continued to the San Francisco Bay Area in order for some of us to catch their various flights back home.  My flight was scheduled for 3:55PM Pacific Time.  I was scheduled to arrive Chicago 12:30AM Central Time.

CALORIES BURNED 0 CALORIES

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Friday net calories 3250 calories

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fitbit day 30
12089 steps
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after logging 54101 steps on Thursday, I simply couldn't bear looking at my fitbit hovering in the neighborhood of 5000 steps when I was at the airport waiting for my flight home.  45 minutes, marching in place solved that problem.  As goofy as I might have looked - many people knew exactly what and why I was doing this.  "Counting steps?"they asked.
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I received these two photos via email today.  These were snapped by Matt, another guy from the Half Dome expedition.  

This is what he wrote in the email:

Hi Marc.  Here are a couple of good shots of you being crazy!

I have to be honest with you... I thought the other guys were crazy NOT to take advantage of this amazing photo opportunity!