In my post after the last death on Half Dome aptly titled,
Half Dome Cables: Accident Waiting To Happen, I posted a video (now taken down) of the congestion on Half Dome. It was quite ridiculous to watch, and anyone with half a brain could see it would lead to more problems. And it did,
last Saturday, and one has to wonder out loud if the NPS is finally going to step in and do something to make the Half Dome cables safer. For those of you that will argue personal responsibility, I'm just going to dismiss you immediately. The NPS has all sorts of precautions in place from barriers around Lower Yosemite Falls at the top of the climb, to bear boxes, to fences on Glacier Point. Given the type of people that visit Yosemite (um, you know, fat people from the Midwest), these precautions makes sense in the well-traveled areas. And if you've hiked Half Dome, you'll know that it's a mule train all the way up, so it definitely deserves the same kind of safety precautions, because currently there are none. And lets be honest, the hike is no joke. Seventeen miles round trip, in the heat of the summer, is not a stroll in the doggie park. People reach the cables tired and often thirsty because they didn't bring enough water and are afraid of drinking out of the streams because of
alarmist warnings about giardia.
The NPS continues to be in denial, calling the circumstances a "perfect storm", which is quite ridiculous. I call bullS$#t. They call them perfect storms because they happen rarely, not 4 times in 3 years. So that begs the question, why is the NPS not doing anything? The personal responsibility line doesn't hold water, because the NPS takes plenty of precautions in other parts of the park that negate the personal responsibility argument. Cost? Maybe? Rigging up a safer climb with two cables on either side and slats coming down might be expensive but com'on. Lame excuse. Send a ranger or volunteer up there on crowded weekends to manage the crowd and stop people from climbing during bad conditions. Or rig a simple ascender for people that aren't confident in their climbing skills. Liability? Stronger maybe. If the NPS actually installs more safety equipment, they'll de facto admit it was unsafe and maybe open themselves up to lawsuits from the families of the people who have died in the last 3 years. Want my opinion? Lack of litigation threat. Nobody has sued yet. Once the first suit happens, I'd expect to see quick changes on Half Dome. Just saying. A full list of the last four deaths after the jump.
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