Hiker Falls to His Death, Forty-One Rescued from Half Dome Cables
June 13, 2009
Half Dome, Cables Route
On Saturday June 13th, hikers ascended the cables route of Half Dome in deteriorating weather conditions. Sleet, driving rain, and dramatically falling temperatures caused the steep rock slabs to become dangerously slick.
As hikers began their exodus from the summit, a 40 year old man of San Ramon, California, lost his footing during his descent and fell from the cables.
The fall proved to be horrifying to hikers who were nearby. Terrified, they clung to the cables - frozen with fear and unable to move. The mid-cable congestion created a barricade that stranded 41 people near the summit of Half Dome.
The Park Service began receiving 911 calls almost immediately, alerting them to a fall.
Through a window in the clouds, Rangers Keith Lober and David Pope were short-hauled onto the Sub-Dome where they rappelled to t he fallen hiker and confirmed that he was deceased.
Following the confirmation, the operation rapidly switched efforts to focus on evacuating the cables. Many of the hikers were dangerously underprepared for the prevailing weather conditions.
Over the next hour the stalled hikers became incapacitated from the cold, as they were exposed to the fury of the storm high on the 8500’ face. The steel cables sucked the heat from their hands, leaving them virtually unable to grip.
Ranger Pope grabbed as much of the climbing gear as he could carry and ascended 300 feet up the cables to the first survivor. Systematically, impromptu harnesses were fashioned with webbing, securely anchoring each person to the cables.
Ranger Lober began instructing those that were physically able to descend to do so. Many of the stranded had beginning stages of hypothermia and were unable to use their hands to open the carabineers on their webbing harnesses in order to bypass the cable stanchions.
The Park’s helicopter made two more flights to the Sub-Dome to insert additional rescue personnel and medical supplies.
The rescue team secured everyone with harnesses and lowered several of the victims down the cableway to the security of the saddle, as they were unable to safely descend under their own power. It took more than two hours to guide the forty one persons back to the sub dome. The operation was completed by dusk on Saturday evening, but it wasn’t until 2:00 AM when all visitors involved would return to the trailhead. All of the evacuated persons were eventually able to walk out on their own.
While descending at the end of the operation, the rescue team was re-assigned to the Lost Lake Area to search for three ledged out hikers.
Submitted by Ranger K. Lober
Edited by Nate Knight
Cold hikers slowly descend back to the saddle. Photo by David Pope.
Rescuers assist hikers with their tether lines. Photo by David Pope.
SAR Siter Detray lowers a victim back to the saddle. Photo by David Pope.
Hikers cling to the cables as they near the bottom. Photo by Keith Lober.
ORIGINAL NPS NEWS RELEASE
A male hiker fell to his death
on Saturday while climbing Yosemite's famed Half Dome, park rangers
said.
The man fell from the granite monolith at 3:40 p.m. on Saturday, said
Yosemite National Ranger Scott Gediman.
Gediman said there are indications the hiker was using the cable
handrails that help climbers make the 17-mile round-trip, which begins
in the Yosemite Valley and ascends nearly 5,000 feet.
The weather on Saturday made for dangerous conditions, and some 30
other Half Dome climbers were being escorted down by rangers on
Saturday evening.
"Right now the weather is cold and cloudy, hail has been reported on
Half Dome today and the granite gets very slippery," he said.
It was not immediately clear if the unidentified hiker was with a group
or alone.
The last death at Half Dome was a Japanese hiker who slipped off of
cables on June 16, 2007 as other hikers watched in horror.
Saturday's death was also witnessed by a number of other hikers,
Gediman said, and an investigation has been launched.
The park estimates that about 50,000 hikers use the cable handrails to
climb Half Dome each year.