Sobering reminder of risks and aid

[mikecain3]

Friends of YOSAR is a non profit that supports the Yosemite Search and Rescue team. On their website under recent rescues is a detailed description of an accident on the cables at half dome. The author does an excellent job of articulating the moment and feelings. It is long and well worth a little reading time. (Also, it is a little chilling to read about fear on the cables and how it can get the best of you.)

My point in posting this here is to say thanks to good Samaritans like Vanessa Holz and Rick Powell, and thanks to YOSAR. We, as outdoor enthusiast are able to enjoy and explore one of the greatest places on earth and still have the ability to call in for help from one of the country’s best trained SAR teams. This is just one more reason why Yosemite is such a great park.

Save and happy trekking to all.

http://www.friendsofyosar.org/rescues/2 ... tHand.html

[bill-e-g]

Let's be frank about this.

I hope that anyone that should possibly profit from this donates it to YoSaR.
I was in Yosemite on June 6th. By 1pm it looked nasty, like
it was gonna rain any second. By 5pm it was snowing.
Granite+Water=Recipe for disaster.
Noone should have gone up Half Dome that day. Period.
We heard the helicopter from Mt. Watkins and feared the worst.
Half Dome was shrouded in clouds... didn't see it until the next day.
They were very very lucky.

[bill-e-g]

Be safe. The mountains will be there a lot longer than any one of us.

[mikecain3]

I don't understand the part about profiting?

The thing about the cables that surprises me is that there are not more accidents. For myself, I am not comfortable with them, so I've never gone up. Waiting at the bottom is fine with me (and that is in good weather). There are plenty of other great things to do there.

[oakroscoe]

I think bill is referring to any book deal possibilities like the book Shattered Air.

To me, anyone attempting to go up Half Dome in the afternoon with clouds rolling in is incredibly stupid.

I agree with mike that it is surprising more people are not injured in the backcountry.

[baseline bum]

That's craziness to try to summit something, much less Half Dome and its 60 degree incline, when there are storms in the area. I second the notion about there being plenty of other amazing things to do in Yosemite if the weather isn't great. I went a couple of weeks ago for 3 days, and there were storms in the area the first day so I went and did a nice hike through Mariposa Grove (I don't care how many times I do that hike; it still blows me away). Thankfully the weather was perfect the next two days, allowing me to do Panorama and then Clouds Rest. Still, if the forecast wasn't clear I would still have had a hell of a time walking/biking in the valley and hiking through Tuolomne Meadows the other two days I had in the park. Every time I visit the park I have about a 100 other things in it that I would LOVE to do but don't have time for.