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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Jan 31, 2012 - 07:59pm PT
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Has anyone here hiked up Angel's Landing, Zion N.P?
Above the col, which is the top out of Prodigal Son, the wonderfully paved Golden Brick Road of switchbacks gets old school, real quick. 2nd and 3rd, with some handrail chains to yardarm. Hasn't prevented a few fatalities, though.
Down cyn a bit, there use to be a USPS maintained "route" up Lady Mtn, which involved about 5,000 of exposed passage. I've been planning to repeat this line, after some due diligence with their Natural Historical Society archieve. Judging from the washouts along the traverse approach ledge systems, I wouldn't consider the ascent w/o at least a 9mm (and a rope, too!); harness with some gear and slings; shoes; and headlamp.
To think that the PS established these routes BITD, for the enjoyment of us all!
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Damn this looks high
Trad climber
Temecula, CA
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I would be all for limiting access to the PARK--that is, limiting the number of cars in the park. Yosemite is one of the most spectacular places on earth and I think EVERYONE should see it and experience it. But the pollution that all of those cars bring--and the trash all of us bring and leave--has tarnished a true gem. As for the cables, I'm torn. I'm glad they're there because of the experience I was able to share with my son but they do seem to be a scar.
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wstmrnclmr
Trad climber
Bolinas, CA
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Climbers are the 1% in this argument. And most, besides the free soloists use gear and bolts to get up (and just about every other formation in the valley for that matter) it anyway. That hikes a bastard for anyone. More people, including climbers, get hurt on the Mist Trail and I'm amazed that the average tourist can get up and back without a heart attack. I went up the cables when I was about ten and it opened my eyes to the mountains and beauty of the place. Limiting it for obvious reasons seems good. Most of us make reservations on planes, blowing crap into the sky to get away from it all.
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Sep 13, 2012 - 09:11pm PT
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covelocos...url...no workie....
Edit .....Thanks, Moosie .. for fixie...me take a lookie...
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Sep 13, 2012 - 09:17pm PT
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Cut the cheese...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 13, 2012 - 09:28pm PT
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The important thing to be taken from this thread is that there is no reason to ever let Rox back in here.
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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Sep 13, 2012 - 09:42pm PT
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In no specific order:
There's first aid
then, on reflection, there's first aid stations (for all you Catholics out there, there are the stations of the cross)
then, aids per se dropped in
at some point, aid climbing appears
then to the dismay of aid climbers, free soloing (Frank Sinatra notwithstanding, though he did give Rock Hudson aids) shows up
most folks require some form of aid to make it up Half Dome
there is, however, over yonder, a way to view the magnificent panorama of Half Dome, which is reachable by car (another form of aid)
some folks can't cut the cord, but want to cut the cables
wait - first things first, can someone aid me in recapturing my cable car train of thought
oh yeah, leave the cables up, just charge a very large fee, so that only rich yuppies (of which I assume there are not a large number, since they all fit in Camp 4) to hike up them
they are afterall an historic monument
give a percentage of the fees to Happiegrrl so she can purchase a new van
and get some free time to post on the ST, like the rest of us.
observe a moment of silence for Mr. Eisenhower for commissioning that report on urine evaporation
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Sep 13, 2012 - 11:00pm PT
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Next up, Park Service evaluates chopping all bolts on all routes so as to make the Dome more of a wilderness. Thus, there go the bolts on Snake Dike....
...and for the same reason the cables were looked at being removed as well. Of course, they will need to do the public comment and EA evaluation first so they can justify both their jobs and what they are going to do.
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Ol' Skool
Trad climber
Oakhurst, CA
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Sep 13, 2012 - 11:26pm PT
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Side by side mall escalators would relieve the congestion.
And maybe a DelNorth food court on top?
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 14, 2012 - 12:17am PT
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How dare these poor mundane intellectual wranglers try to remove the cables that pave the way for the spirit to soar .......
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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In 1874 the slick dome that rises 5,000 feet above the valley floor was described as "perfectly inaccessible." But in 1919 the Sierra Club installed the first cables along the 400-foot final ascent so that visitors without rock climbing experience could hoist themselves to the summit. Then in 2013 Congress stuck their nose in and only 300 people a day are allowed on the top.
I'd say it's gone from "perfectly inaccessible" peak to an "imperfectly accessible" summit to "a stultifyingly stupidly stupendously superior adventure experience for the elite."
Sublime, ain't it?
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1994883&msg=1994883#msg1994883
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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maybe they just need to start selling T-Shirts that read "I climbed Cloud's Rest", and get the crowds to head in another direction. ???
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Cut the f*#kin cables. This elitist bullshit argument sucks....if the cables had never been put in would there be a hue and cry from people who want to summit Half Dome but think It's too difficult? I think not!
If you leave the damn things in, at least take the "Wilderness" designation away.
edit: Do people complain that the Glacier Point Firefall is gone?
Do people complain that Grizzlies are no longer being culled fom Yellowstone?
Oh....I forgot, we are the Country where most of the citizens don't believe in evolution.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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You just know the cables are there to stay when someone has written an entire book about hiking half dome. Sure, it has become a sideshow, but relatively harmless I guess. What is the YOSAR take on this. Is helohiking 50 people off the summit in a thunderstorm really impractical?
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