{"id":975,"date":"2010-01-29T10:32:35","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T18:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/?p=975"},"modified":"2010-01-29T11:02:16","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T19:02:16","slug":"yosemite-half-dome-hikers-need-a-permit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/yosemite-half-dome-hikers-need-a-permit\/","title":{"rendered":"Yosemite Half Dome Hikers Need a Permit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cables<\/a>
Cables on a Saturday - in 2006<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yosemite National Park has moved to a permit system for hikers going up Half Dome on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and holidays while the cables are up. Rockclimbers going up a technical route and not entering the subdome area will not need permits to descend. Backpackers will receive a permit as part of their Wilderness Permit if their itinerary includes Half Dome.<\/p>\n

“In 2010, permits are available up to about\u00c2\u00a0four months in advance\u00c2\u00a0to one week in advance<\/strong> only<\/em> through the\u00c2\u00a0National Recreation Reservation Service<\/a>. Permits are\u00c2\u00a0not<\/strong> available in the park or on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservation procedures and timing for 2011 may be different.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A maximum of 400 permits (300 Day Use and 100 for Wilderness Permits) will be allowed on each of the days. This was done as an interim measure while the YNPS is developing a long-term plan and I’m sure it was spurred by the accidents on Half Dome and the resulting media attention it received last year. Enforcement of the permit system is unknown at this point, but it should be a fairly easy thing for the park service to check permits at the bottom of the cables.<\/p>\n

Is It Worth It?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve summited Half Dome four times. Twice up the regular route: once on a Friday and once on a Saturday. I also went up when the cables were down (forgot what day of the week that was but it was obviously off-season). And I’ve also climbed it via a technical rockclimbing route (Snake Dike) on a Friday. Going up on a Friday I think it was as crowded on top as Whitney was the time I did the regular route up to that summit, though the way up was more crowded than going up Whitney (hikers are more spread out over the Whitney trail since it’s longer).<\/p>\n

Each trip was worth it though I did enjoy the cables down ascent and the technical route more than the others. If however I’d only done the most crowded hike up, I still would’ve liked it. My enjoyment of the Half Dome summit is probably partly because it is an icon of childhood for me, so being able to see the view from its top is a reward unto itself. I also enjoyed the interaction with other outdoor lovers. For pure solitude it’s best to go to other locations (or just get on some technical climbing routes of course), or if doing Half Dome aim for sunrise at the top or do it in the off-season. But if you only have a weekend to do it, I’d say it’s definitely worth doing and I think this permit system will help lessen the weekend crowds though it may be an initial hassle at first.<\/p>\n

More Half Dome Permit information:\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/yose\/planyourvisit\/hdpermits.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Update: YNPS put up more information on the “why”, essentially it is as I guessed, increased popularity and fatality and serious accidents spurred the change:\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/yose\/parknews\/hdpermits1.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Jumping<\/a>
Jumping for Joy on Top of Half Dome<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yosemite National Park has moved to a permit system for hikers going up Half Dome on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and holidays while the cables are up. Rockclimbers going up a technical route and not entering the subdome area will not need permits to descend. Backpackers will receive a permit as part of their Wilderness…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[15,88],"tags":[90,131,374],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa1ZbT-fJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1507,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/half-dome-hiking-permits-required-everyday-cables-are-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":0},"title":"Half Dome Hiking Permits Required Everyday Cables Are Up","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"December 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yosemite has decided to make the hiking permit system apply everyday the cables are up starting in Spring of 2011. Previously they were only required for weekend hiking. In 2011, free permits are available up to about four months in advance only through the National Recreation Reservation Service (NRRS). As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/yosemitehalfdomecalendar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1906,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/yosemite-valley-trip-7-days-of-awesome-part-iii-rest-days-and-half-dome\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":1},"title":"Yosemite Valley Trip: 7 Days of Awesome – Part III – Rest Days and Half Dome","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"July 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Part III - Rest Days and Half Dome [See Part I here] Yosemite National Park. Day 4. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rest\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Day The concept of a rest day during a climbing trip is that you rest your body so that you can continue to climb and so that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t injure yourself. 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They did a write up of their Half Dome, Regular Route experience as a PDF and I asked if they'd mind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climbing Trips"","block_context":{"text":"Climbing Trips","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/climbingtrip\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/katieandbenpitch4-300x241.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2382,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/government-shutdown-what-it-means-for-our-national-parks-yosemite-etc\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":3},"title":"Government Shutdown – What it Means for Our National Parks – Yosemite, etc","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"October 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Government shutdown in regards to our National Parks will take place in 2 phases. Part of phase one includes instructing all day use visitors to leave the park immediately. 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Day 2 \"I have triple A,\" I said. \"Do you have your card?\" K asked me. \"It's in the car,\" I said, \"But we don't need it to call, they can look me up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climbing Trips"","block_context":{"text":"Climbing Trips","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/climbingtrip\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/img0428-m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1337,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/rock-climbing-tuolumne-trip-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":975,"position":5},"title":"Unusual Circumstances – Tuolumne Trip 2010 Part 2","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"September 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Whenever someone says it's always sunny in California, I realize that they've never been to its mountains (or lived here). 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