Half Dome: Do It or Skip It?

[Hooch]

What do you think?

[royalusa]

Do it!!!!! It's a very cool place with very neat climbing (using chains) to get there. Great views. It's one of our favorite trips.

[Helmuth.Fishmonger]

do Clouds Rest instead - better view, no standing in line at the cables. It's way overrated

[Toolshed]

How you gonna feel about it in 10 years. Will you wish you had done it?

[royalusa]

do Clouds Rest instead - better view, no standing in line at the cables. It's way overrated

I think the lines at the cable depend on when you hit that section. We hit it early in the morning as we had camped relatively nearby (within 5 miles if my memory is correct). We were the second and third ones up. It was great. Climbing the cables was half the fun for me, as I have a fear of heights and wanted to see if I could do it. I actually practiced for it at home beforehand, by putting a ladder against the side of our 2-story house and climbing up and down it until I was comfortable.

We also did Clouds Rest and it was great too.

[ChinMusic]

If you have never done Half Dome, and don't have plans to do it in the future...........it's a no-brainer IMO.

Yes, unless you get there very early in the day, there will be a line, but that is a part of it. Unless you are a climber it is an experience you have never had before.

I enjoyed my trip up Half Dome last year so much, I am taking my daughter there this summer. I MORE THAN AGREE with hitting Clouds Rest as well. It doesn't have to be an either-or. After leaving the Half Dome Trail the Clouds Rest trail branches to the left after like 1/2 mile. I actually cried on top of Clouds Rest. It is absolutely at the top of my list of places I have been while backpacking. Half Dome is a memorable climb. Clouds Rest is simply a memorable place.

To take in Clouds Rest you will be skipping a rather boring section of the JMT for incredible views. I would only skip Clouds Rest if the weather were poor. You DO NOT want to be on Clouds Rest in bad weather and that obviously goes for Half Dome as well.

[Ewker]

you will be sorry if you don't do it. That it is me sitting on the diving board

[ChinMusic]

Me on Half Dome:


View of Half Dome from Clouds Rest (~1K higher):

[mweinstone]

What do you think?

horrifing behavior. skip? do this thing and i assure you we shall never share a bacon greesed tissue. fool!

[mweinstone]

my hands are stinking of poo right now. i worked in the most horrid after hours club bathrooms today. but you just wait. after ive bleached my hands and taken a ride on my bike into the deepest getto to dispell the days hate, ill be back. and not just cause the dogers have a one to nothing lead on my phills. cause i got buissness with this hooch or whatever hes calling his not gonna climb my favorite mountain since i was able to carve ice cream into mountains mountain ass. im gonna post such a thorough history and such vintage collectors first addition pics of this baby of mine,....you will climb. and if by chance you get a bad day and have no fun,...youll still climb biatch!
wait right their.
bleach please,....more on my computer please...ahhhh...

[Driver8]

Me on Half Dome: ...

View of Half Dome from Clouds Rest (~1K higher):

Amazing. Thank you!

[Sierra Echo]

Do it!!!!!!!!

[Dogwood]

If you have never done Half Dome, and don't have plans to do it in the future...........it's a no-brainer IMO.


Yes, unless you get there very early in the day, there will be a line, but that is a part of it. Unless you are a climber it is an experience you have never had before.

I enjoyed my trip up Half Dome last year so much, I am taking my daughter there this summer. I MORE THAN AGREE with hitting Clouds Rest as well. ***It doesn't have to be an either-or.*** After leaving the Half Dome Trail the Clouds Rest trail branches to the left after like 1/2 mile. I actually cried on top of Clouds Rest. It is absolutely at the top of my list of places I have been while backpacking. Half Dome is a memorable climb. Clouds Rest is simply a memorable place.


To take in Clouds Rest you will be skipping a rather boring section of the JMT for incredible views. I would only skip Clouds Rest if the weather were poor. You DO NOT want to be on Clouds Rest in bad weather and that obviously goes for Half Dome as well.

Can't say it any better than Chin Music did! I 100 % agree with what he posted!


Go super EARLY for sunrise or stay after sunset when the summit can be empty! When staying for sunset I bring my jacket(warm clothing), headlamp, some snacks, TAKE MY TIME COMING DOWN SAFELY, no backpack, and have already set up base camp near the HD/JMT junction peferably near/on the edge of Little Yosemite Valley?/canyon. I think that's the canyon! Water is usually available at a spring on the way to the top of HD before hitting the cables. I have taken in sunsets from atop Half Dome when I was the only one up there during the early spring and fall hiking seasons. Pure magic! When experiencing HD's summit after sunset under a full moon, I pinch myself and cry too!



Look at those pics posted by Ewker and Chin Music! Come on! That's not something everyone does every day! That's not a view everyone gets to appreciate every day!



Those pics remind me of one of the most famous sites on the AT - McAfees Knob!

[mweinstone]

do any of you understand how the cables were first layed? i mean the very first? the story is so good, its like ,...trail magic good.also, if you own fifty classic climbs of north america by steve roper and allen steck, read about half dome.

[mweinstone]

also, climb half dome. because you will hate yourself every time you tell the story of how you could have.

[Dogwood]

Classic climbing and adventure book Matty. Good rec.

[mweinstone]

im looking feaverishly for the book with the lithographs of the cowhand /climber who each summer returned to half dome thru winters of destruction to his cable and thru wars until, after years of standing on his toe and lassoing nails above him and pulling himself up, he strung the first route.its such a cool ass tale. you know witch book im looking for? i got all of em.

[lori]

Go ahead and get the permit stamped on your wilderness permit - if the weather's bad, don't go, lightening strikes happen all year.

BTW, that's called the Visor. The Diving Board is near but not on the Dome. That's a different hike, but to get an idea of the picture you get from the Diving Board, google yourself up the Monolith by Ansel Adams - great view of the face without having to be a climber.

By the time you get to Whitney, Half Dome will be SO last week. Meh. The tops of the passes are far more awesome and you'll share it with maybe a handful of people instead of the 100-400 you'll find at Half Dome. Donahue was cool, Thousand Island Pass was just a really, really nice walk in windswept pines and flowers, views of the lakes were awesome from up there - good grief, don't get me started on all the things I intend to do AGAIN. Forester Pass! OMG. All the foxtail pines and golden trout.... I'm thinking I'll have to go again real soon, thanks to you.

[Dogwood]

My take: Enjoy it all! Never take a blase unappreciative perspective.

[mweinstone]

i gave it away like ten times and only bought it nine.lol
anyway, he had like 6 weeks each season between cattledrives and weather chasing him out. and he had no money at all. he had to save up rounds of ammo to hunt and scraps of old rope to do his deed. his big toe or his second toe , i forget, was the only way he could climb. standing on the ground, he reached up and drove a nail. then he tied a peice of rope to it and pulled himself up. then he repeted this. when he came back after winter storms each spring, he had to lasso the nails and start again.