Update IV: A Florida man was found dead Monday, apparently having fallen from a cliff near Mirror Lake in eastern Yosemite Valley.
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UPDATE III: A
friend of a couple who witnessed the accident posted this account.
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UPDATE II: Rick Deutsch of Hike Half Dome was on the dome Saturday. He was well on his way down — hiking in full rain — when he saw the rescue helicopter heading toward the peak. “I knew this was not a training mission.”
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UPDATE: The hiker who fell to his death has been identified: Manoj Kumar, 40, of San Ramon. More on him in the Chron.
Kumar worked for Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, according to a family friend, Vikash Pushpraj. He leaves behind a wife who teaches at a Danville nursery school and a 10-year-old son.
A park spokeswoman said Kumar was using the cabled hand rails on his descent from the summit of the mountain when he slipped and fell 100 feet as other hikers looked on. Rain and hail had made the face of the granite slippery.
Pushpraj said Kumar loved hiking and other outdoor activities and was known for his good judgment. He said Kumar had visited Yosemite many times before.
“We were surprised, because he’s usually a very careful and watchful person,” Pushpraj said. “He’s not a professional hiker, but he loved hiking, he loved the mountains.”
Share kind thoughts and prayers for his survivors.
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Previously: A week after a hiker slipped at Half Dome but survived, a hiker fell to his death yesterday. It’s still unknown what happened yesterday and common decency requires leaving the second-guessing for another time. Another of us has hiked his last, a tragedy even for those who never knew him. I do think it’s acceptable to discuss safety on Half Dome, however.
I can’t help wondering: Have the crowds made Half Dome unsafe? Should a ranger be posted at the cables full-time?
If you’re thinking of doing the Dome, you simply cannot afford to forget that it is fatally risky, especially in wet weather. It’s eight miles and 4,000 feet of climb to the top; you get there tired and out of breath.
You could buy Rick Deutsch’s book
Of course you could get killed walking down the street or driving to work, but in both instances you develop defensive habits: looking in rear view mirrors, anticipating lead-foots flying through intersections on the yellow, etc. It’s not always enough to be careful out there, but it’s still a prerequisite.
Comments are welcome, but remember: our hiker’s friends/family may find this page in their Web travels; don’t say anything you wouldn’t say to his mom.
Tragically, these things happen when you put yourself in risky situations…and climbing Half Dome is risky, no matter how many thousands do it. It’s especially risky and foolhardy – to wit, Gina Bartiromo’s slip last weekend – when weather conditions are inclement. Why people defy the odds – arrogance? hubris? risk aversion? thrill seeking adrenaline near-death adventure taking? – is beyond me. I’ve climbed Half Dome twice, and each time I approached with extreme caution and reverence, and in clear blue sky weather. I wonder, has there ever been a fall on Half Dome when the weather was good?
The Japanese hiker who died last year fell in perfect weather.
Yosemite Blog has a video created on the day of his hike.
I’m wondering if i might not be a bad idea to recommend “Shattered Air” or the hiking chapter of “Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite” in addition to the “One Best Hike” book.
From my experiences on Half Dome, and the crowding, I would support making the Half Dome trail a true wilderness area requiring some sort of permit. The permit system for overnight stays is how they keep the backcountry from being too crowded, compromising the wilderness experience for all. If a permit were required, that would allow for a finite number of hikers on any given day improving safety, and keeping the privilege open for public enjoyment. This would also help ensure that all hikers are properly prepared because they would have to read and sign a list of precautions and recommendations.
If that’s what it takes to ensure that the hike stays open then it’s worth it. There are entirely too many people in Yosemite! Overcrowding is killing the park in many ways and something needs to be done. A few weeks ago when I did the Half Dome hike last, there was a kid sliding down the cables because his cheap sneakers had no traction, and he could barely hold on. He looked terrified, and he could have easily slipped and taken himself out, and possibly someone else in the process. He shouldn’t have been there.
I worked at Yosemite for the national park service, in the late 90’s. ‘Till this day, I will admit that I never quite had the nerve to do the Dome — even with my experienced ranger friends at my side.
I am in agreement that a permit need be issued — perhaps after a two-three… hour training / orientation course and test on preparation for the climb. This may, at least, alert hikers to the seriousness and potential danger of the climb.
The Japanese hiker who died two years ago was reportedly ‘laughing’ with his group right before he fell — Yosemite certainly isn’t Disneyland and hiking Half Dome is not a amusement park ride, yet it’s made even more accessable to the public.
I really like Randy’s suggestions for making Half Dome safer for hikers.
I personally avoid hikes where there are steep areas with cables and lots of other hikers. I’ve been to Zion National Park several times and havehiked near and beyond Angel’s Landing. I’ve only done actually done Angel’s Landing once, and I was very scared in a couple of places where I had to deal with someone coming the other way, both of us holding the same cable, with certain death the result of somebody making a mistake.
Oh hell no on the permits. And a *two hour* training class?
For a non technical low altitude dayhike with a via ferrata section? Surely you jest.
How about some personal responsibility? This isn’t Disneyland, its the wilderness.
Where are the funds to manage and enforce such a regulation going to come from?
There are multiple trailhead approaches, not to mention the climbers who use the main trail for a downclimb.
Would you station rangers at the foot of the cables for the whole summer?
This is *at least* 3-5 full time ranger jobs for the enforcement and manning the training/permit stations.
Half Dome is no more dangerous than any of the 100 other peaks in the park.
I can see the justification for putting up some stronger signage (something akin to the Grand Canyon’s “Don’t try to hike to the river” signs.)
– But the solution to every problem is not additional government regulation.
There have been *2* deaths on the Half Dome cable route when the cables were up in the modern history of the park.
(And while the details are still coming in on this one, this looks to be related to the conditions)
Lets not overreact.
Even so, John, anecdotal evidence suggests the summer weekend crowds are getting worse and worse.
So far we’ve been fortunate that none of the fallers have taken anybody out with them — I wonder what the risk of that is, and what would happen if it did. Having never been up there I prefer not to speculate.
I agree about the responsibility, and having comon sense. But how do you regulate that exactly? I do not favor more regulation, but sometimes it makes sense. This isn’t the wild west anymore.
It’s not just a safety issue. As is the case with the wilderness areas in general, high sierra camps, and Whitney portal, ect, it’s about the quality of the experience vs unlimited access. Sure people will break the rules, but overall a permit system would go a long way to preserve the experience before it really does become an ammusment park ride, or worse, gets shut down due to lawsuits, which even if not won need to be defended.
Yes to personal responsibility, but based on the account in update III the victim could’ve just have easily been me or a similar experienced hiker.
Although I have a libertarian streak within me, in the case of the Half Dome cables I’m all for posted rules, spot checks & fines. Beats NPS paying for a ranger at the bottom of the cables (24hrs/day?) and probably assuming some future liability.
And while we’re at it, why not upgrade the cables, and make two lanes? The reason it takes so long to get either up or down the cables at peak times is because of the two way traffic, which not only increases time on cables but also increases fatigue.
And to anybody thinking of tackling the cables, I can heartily recommend use of a tether/carabiner arrangement, perhaps like this .. http://www.rei.com/product/767285 . Saw a few people using these to great effect.
> I agree about the responsibility, and having comon sense. But how do you regulate that exactly?
You don’t. One takes risks going into the backcountry.
Hell, I broke my ankle on the Half Dome trail. It was my own stupidity and no amount of regulation/permits would have prevented it.
> I’m all for posted rules, spot checks & fines.
What rules would have prevented the two deaths? One was in perfect conditions.
Are you going declare the whole mountain off limits under less than ideal condictions?
Prohibit early season climbers from using the (down) cables for a descent?
I begrudgingly see the need for the Whitney permits due to the environmental damage of that high altitude environment and the special considerations of 14k altitude. Oh the flip side, they’re an astronomical pain in the ass and add a great deal of overhead to a trip to the area. I’d hate to see the same thing come to the north end of the JMT.
And again, who is gonna pay for this?
I’d definately like to see some improved signage. There is nothing on the posted signs that warns about slick granite when wet or icy. There are very blunt signs posted at the waterfalls- something similar should be posted at the base of the cables.
> And to anybody thinking of tackling the cables, I can heartily recommend use of a tether/carabiner arrangement
This is objective, but IMHO these are false security and you are more likely to get hurt messing with them than without it.
That’s just a simple carabiner + tether- its not a via farrata device and it has no self arrest capability.
If you slip with it, you are going to fall 10-20 feet and then get tangled in the cable support at some very uncomfortable angle/velocity.
(And the tether is just as likely to disturb your balance as it is to keep you from slipping)
And you need to clip/unclip the biner at every segment of cable, which *requires* that you drop your grip on the cable.
The half dome cable route isn’t all that steep, you’ve got a cable on each side so balance should never be an issue.
If your footing slips, you should still have 2 hands on the cables and only be 5-10 feet above the last support beam.
Just be careful and you won’t have issues.
Tom: Seems to me that there are two different issues. One is the crowding, and the second is safety.
If we are going to ask NPS to reduce crowding, that is one thing – you can make an argument about the impact on the environment and also on the quality of the visitor experience.
If we are going to ask them to ‘correct a dangerous situation’, I don’t see why they wouldn’t just pull the cables entirely. It’s not like they haven’t closed trails in the past because it has become difficult or impossible to maintain them in a ‘safe’ manner. It seems like we should be careful about what we ask for.
Stuart: A proposal to upgrade the cables to two lanes would almost certainly elicit law suits. Also, Half Dome is in wilderness, and regulations prohibit motorized drills (among other things). Hand drill how many additional post-holes in the Wilderness? I don’t think so.
Apparently, another fatal fall from a cliff in the park — but not Half Dome.
Maybe more what it needs is what waterfalls have – large signs that are memorials. Simply put, there is one in particular I can think of – where the kiosk, plunked in the middle of the trail, has names and dates along with JUST why it is dangerous and how to avoid ending up on the memorial – there was room left for more names.
What happens at Half Dome with crowds isn’t unusual sadly – NP’s attract people who will clamber to do something “memorable” even though they shouldn’t be up there. It is the same here in Wa. with people going to Camp Muir. They do keep rangers out in the summer turning people back. Sure, most people going will have sore legs for a week and a sunburn beyond belief and survive – yet then every couple years someone sadly dies on what isn’t a “technical snow hike” – all it takes is a whiteout or a storm.Yet the tourist visiting from Ohio gets out in a paved parking lot and can just start walking in view of the parking nearly the whole way. Too easy for people who shouldn’t be there.
Something to consider…permits are not an evil if it saves lives. A lecture or a video to watch may well get others to change their mind on a risky route.
[quote]Something to consider…permits are not an evil if it saves lives. A lecture or a video to watch may well get others to change their mind on a risky route.[/quote]
Yes they are. Possibly a necessary evil, but still an evil.
By this logic, we should just shut the park down. Then *noone* will die.
(And we should require permits/videos for swimming in the ocean, mountain biking, and most other sports that put one in contact with nature)
This *isn’t* a nature trail- Its a 17 mile excursion into the Sierra Nevada Backcountry.
You don’t need a permit to climb El Capitan (or technically climb Half Dome), why the heck should you need one to walk up the Half Dome cables.
I can at least understand a envionmental/crowding based argument for permits- but the safey issue should be covered by personal responsibility.
I would politely disagree – in parts of Wa here you need permits for day trips above tree line – for example Rainier, Adams, Helens – above a certain elevation. There are many areas in the wilderness where you have to have a paper (free) permit to enter be it for the day or night.
I’d put the lectures up there with grizzly safety ones you are required to watch in certain NP’s before getting permitted. It can and does save lives.
Sarah: the difference is that 50,000 people do Half Dome every year — I can’t imagine the other parks have that kind of demand for backcountry uses… there wouldn’t be enough campsites to hold them all.
It would be a major hassle to force all those people through a permit process.
Sarah, you can’t hardly compare the high altitude WA volcanic peaks with Half Dome
CA has the same restrictions on the Whitney Zone (where most of its 14ers are centered)
Half Dome tops out at less that 9000ft, below even some of the Yosemite Park roads.
With the exeption of the cable section (and arguably even with the cable assistance) it is a simple (by climbing standards) walkup.
> I’d put the lectures up there with grizzly safety ones you are required to
> watch in certain NP’s before getting permitted. It can and does save lives.
Noone argued that it didn’t. The question is if it is worth the cost? (Both monetary and in the time/inconvienence of the hikers)
Let us once again remember that there have been *2* deaths on the cable route during summer operation in the modern history of the park.
Far more people have been killed by rockfalls, car accidents, etc.
There are 100’s of climbing accidents elsewhere in the park each year.
There is *substantial* infrastructure that would be required to pump 50,000 people through a permitting and instructional process.
Who is going to pay for and manage this?
John: I think that we must keep in mind that the two deaths (and one near death last week) have all happened in past year or so, suggesting something has changed in the scenario here: namely the crowds.
It could be a statistical blip that they all happened so close together; hopefully we can make it through another summer w/no more serious accidents (or worse) and reassess then. But if a “death toll” starts mounting, things are going to change anyway because the park will have no choice, for liability reasons.
Simple, the people who want to hike or scramble pay for the permit. Easy enough. Be it $10 or $50, paying money makes a permit real. People WILL pay it. Have the permits pay for themselves – no outside money. Look at it like climbing Everest in a small way. The cost of the permit gives the hike a value – and the actual permit can carry warnings on it as well.
As for crowds equaling deaths, I would say yes, that does happen. More people are getting in the outdoors this year due to the economy – crowds invite more crowds. The ‘outdoor lifestyle’ has become bigger every year. Backpacking is on a slide downhill, but the concept of ‘multi sporting’ has boomed in the past couple years. You have people who kayak, bike, hike and scramble and more – jack of all trades, masters of none. There have been more fatalities in recent years than ever up in the PNW. People who sadly were most likely above their level or had a split second mistake that cost their life.
As for Rainier? Over 1 million visit the park yearly. They control the backcountry through a tightly reined permit system and will ask if you know what you are doing – the rangers have a keen eye for sniffing out people who are not up to it. The permit system keeps people out of a lot of areas…..not a bad thing really.
> Simple, the people who want to hike or scramble pay for the permit. Easy enough. Be it $10 or $50, paying money makes a permit real.
Ok, I have a *far* bigger issue with a pay permit for a dayhike than I do with a permit itself.
Add a “Half Dome” tax on top of the entrance fee to enter the park?
If I want to full moon moonlight hike Half Dome or go early to beat the crowds I need to get there the day before to deal with some training class and permit system?
Do we slap permits system on the Bright Angle trails in the Grand Canyon as well? Far more people get into trouble on that route than on Half Dome. Do we reqire surfing permits on public beaches? Far more people get hurt surfing than on Half Dome.
> People who sadly were most likely above their level or had a split second mistake that cost their life.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
It is *not* the responsibility or mandate of US federal government to save people from themselves in public wildernesses.
> As for Rainier? Over 1 million visit the park yearly.
Now you are intentionally playing games with statistics. 1 million visit Rainier. 1 million do not want to summit Rainier. These are two completely different things. (Yosemite gets 4m yearly visitors, only a small fraction of which want to hike half dome)
Rainier is a 14k+ active volcano with a permanenant glacial snow cap and its own weather system. Climbing it requires multiple days, gear, glacier travel, altitude awareness, avalanche risk awareness, etc.
Half Dome, on the other hand, can be safely and easily hiked in street clothes.
These are not even close to being the same thing.
John: all good points; I would suggest, though, that crowd control on the Dome is an aesthetic issue — the mobs of hikers clogging up the cables are making it very difficult to enjoy the hike. It hasn’t been shown so far that the crowds have been implicated in the accidents, but they must be encouraging people to take more risks — like walking down outside the cables — and the delays must be causing people to hurry, which is never a good idea when safety’s an issue.
I’m not one to advocate for more bureaucracy, but I think a permit system for Half Dome, like the Whitney system, will and should happen.
I have a dark secret to share: I’ve never hiked Half Dome. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to do it someday, but right now the Disneyland-like atmosphere of the hike completely negates any desire I have to hike it.
I felt the same way about Whitney – the only reason I did it was because it was the end of the JMT. I thoroughly enjoyed my quiet and empty-trail hike up from the west side, then silently cursed and mumbled about the crowds the whole way down to the Portal. It completely distracted me from the joy and normal feelings I get when I am out in the backcountry, and I most definitely will not enjoy doing Half Dome under such conditions. I know not to expect peace and solitude on Half Dome, or Whitney, and due to those reasons they are way at the bottom of my must-do list. Nothing against the hike or the peak, it’s purely the crowds.
I know, I just said that Half Dome should have the same permit system as Whitney, then in the same breath complained about the same circus-like atmosphere on both.
The difference is the # of people and how it affects the safety of others. Yes, whitney is annoying with the crowds, but my safety never really relied on someone else’s actions or stupid choices. There are some narrow places, some potentially slick surfaces, but during the summer it is easy to wait or pass safely. Half Dome is different – one person making a poor choice or doing something stupid can take out any number of other people. I know it hasn’t happened, but I’ve heard enough close-call stories to worry. Limiting the people on the cables, whether by permit system or whatever, is a solution that I would buy into, and would definitely raise my interest in actually doing Half Dome.
I did Half Dome 2 days ago, and it was dry, although there were some clouds. What really bothered me were the teenagers climbing up outside the cables, at times not even holding on. A man in his 30s, again outside the cables, actually started sliding but managed to arrest himself within 50 to 100 feet. This is seriously irresponsible, and detracted from the experience because I did not want to witness a death. Still I would NOT advocate permits. There are plenty of warnings, and permits would not keep idiots off the mountain.
What would be a good idea is to have two sets of cables: one for up and one for down. Even though there are two cables now, it’s really only one path, and a lot of waiting, which is one reason why people get impatient and go outside the cables.
What an excellent hike that was, though. Majestic, impressive, and at times surreal, I had a blast!
While any death or serious injury is a terrible thing, one must remember that Yosemite is a back country wilderness. People need to be able to access their own abilities, and for sure, not screw around when on the cables or the approach to the cables. I have done this hike 6 times in the last 4 years. We always plan so that when we reach the cables there are very low numbers of people there, and do another safer hike if weather is at all threatening. I have witnessed the cables from down in Little Yosemite Valley looking like an ant farm with a solid line of people from top to bottom, rumor has it that it takes upwards of 2 hours to get up the cables at these high traffic times. why anyone would want to endure that is beyond me, when you can climb the cables in about 10-15 mins when in low traffic times. If you are unsecure about yourself or your child and want to climb it, wear a harness, use a leader of rope and clip into the cables, it will be slower but you wont slide more than 10 feet if you fall. I certainly am not for the GOV telling me everything I can and cant do. Especially in the wilderness, after all it is supposed to be a wilderness experience. Permitting this hike would be a real bummer, as most know getting a permit for anywhere in the park has to be done way in advance. We usually leave the valley floor at Midnight, hike through the night, while it is cool, get the the cables aproach at first light, and are on top to see the most spectacular sunrise. We are on our way down as the crowds build. This is probably not for everyone, but certainly has worked great to avoid the crowds, and again, the sunrise it beyond compare.
As stated above, the park will never put in another set of cables, had the current system not been put in many years ago, they would never put any in now, and there are plenty of warnings one passes on the way up regarding weather.
I love this hike, I could do it 10 times a year and never get tired of it. If one wants to hike Half Dome, take it seriously, get in shape, plan ahead, get advice or go with someone experienced. Dont be like half the people up there who planned to hike to vernal falls (in their flip-flops) and then on a whim with no water or proper gear, decide to head up to half dome, arriving way late, and totally exhausted, with still the cables to climb, and the long hike back to the valley ahead of them.
Hope to see you all out on the trail. 🙂