Hoofing it up Halfdome

Halfdome, Yosemite National Park

Back in February while hiking our regular biweekly conditioning hike in Turtle Rock my friend CP mentioned he was considering putting in for permits to hike up Halfdome. I told him instantly I was in! He commented that he did not have permits, was not sure of the dates or if he would even get them if he did apply. I told him it did not matter, I was in! So many people have heard of my list of peaks I have climbed and just assume Halfdome was one of them. Regretfully, it was not and here was a great opportunity to rectify that and do it with great friends.

CP put in for the permits and we waited. I still remember getting his text in April that not only did we get the permits but that we got our preferred day! How lucky we were. Six of us were going to be part of the adventure, I was going to be one of them along with CP, that is the benefit of telling the group leader you are on board before he even has a permit or a date for the adventure. Within short order CP had filled the trip attendees out with myself, Erica and Yong who are regulars on the Turtle Rock hike I lead and friends Clark and Michelle whom hike on the weekends with us regularly.

As I am typically the navigator for our adventures, maps, routes and scheduling was assigned to me. This was also done as both Clark and I have a good friend and client, Gayle from Heritage Foods, who we have hiked with before and has done Halfdome several times and shared her stories and pictures with us. One thing she made clear was that it is best to start early to avoid long lines and crowds at the cables during the final ascent of Halfdome. Our plan was to meet at the trailhead at 5AM and start hiking shortly thereafter to try to make it to the cables by 10AM which we were told would help us avoid the major congestion that is typical at this location. We also decided on a hike to the top of Yosemite Falls the day prior to loosen up our hiking legs and get ready for the big adventure.

Yosemite Falls in the background.

Our master plan was to arrive and meet at the Awahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley the day prior to the climb. Since many of us were travelling in on different days and from different locations this was a big challenge. Fortunately 5 of us arrived on schedule and headed off to hike Yosemite Falls as planned. Yong was caught in traffic and would start the hike a little later. We made our way to the lovely Yosemite Falls trail and enjoyed great views of Halfdome and the valley below. CP's wife and son joined us up the trail and his son Rahul proved to be a great hiker just like his dad and kept pace with us up front. Once we reached the bottom of upper Yosemite Falls Michelle's foot was bothering her and she decided it was better to turn back and preserve herself for the following day, a good call indeed. CP figured his son had pushed it pretty hard and turned back with him and Clark followed Michelle back down as well. Just Erica and I pushed onward. Shortly after that we got a glimpse of the trail ahead. Good grief, it looked like a wooded version of the 99 switchbacks on Mt. Whitney! Up and up we went and finally crested the top and got to the top of the falls and enjoyed the view. We took a few pictures, soaked our feet in the nice cold water and headed back down. After grabbing an ice cream as a treat for our accomplishment we rejoined Clark and Michelle for dinner before heading off to camp for the night.

We awoke on the morning of the big hike at about 3:30AM. We had to pack up our camping gear as we were outside the park, pick up CP at his hotel where he and his family were staying for the week at 4:30 and then get to the trailhead. We pulled it all off and arrived on schedule at 5:00AM! We were hiking by 5:20AM with just enough light to not need headlamps.

Starting our hike in the early hours.

We had decided to take the Mist Trail, a trail that follows along the river and right past Vernal and Nevada Falls. Both waterfalls are absolutely stunning, Vernal falls at 317 ft. (right Erica?) was amazing. The mist blowing off of it makes the rocks near the trail look black and grass grows everywhere giving you the impression you are in a rain forest rather than California. The view was great and the mist was not that bad and we quickly made our way to the top of it where we soon got a glimpse of Nevada Falls. I have been to Yosemite Valley at least 10 times before but had never seen these falls before so this was a really great experience for me. We kept on hiking up the numerous steps carved into the rock all along this trail. We were all very excited to finally be on this great adventure that had been in the planning for months and as we reached the top of Nevada Falls we were about halfway towards our goal of Halfdome.

Me on a short leash! CP is ready for his first attempt.

We quickly cruised through Little Yosemite Valley. We would have liked to have done the trip as a backpack but all the permits for this area go quickly and we had no luck trying to procure them. I did notice the lovely San Joaquin river flowing through the valley and mentally marked a location where the current was slow and the river ran wide and deep, could be nice on the way back.

The trail began to climb again as it wrapped around the northwest side of Halfdome and began to bring us toward the north shoulder of the peak. At first view, you could see the cables section way up on Halfdome itself but there was the shoulder of the dome directly in front of us that looked quite menacing all by itself. Our group had strung out a little bit, maybe 10 minutes separating us but were all in contact via radio so all was well. Erica, Yong and I reached the top of the shoulder after climbing the steps carved into the rock right at 10AM. How is that for running on schedule, our target time to reach the cables and we nailed it dead on!

It was a bit windy and exposed on the shoulder but this was where we needed to put on our summit gear. Yong had opted to wear a climbing harness with a pair of carabiners on 2 ft. leaders so he could clip to the cables that run along the route to the summit. CP was going to go like most people do and just use the cables to pull himself up. Erica had expressed a little concern prior to going and I offered to have her tethered to me  and we would both wear climbing harnesses. Each of us also had a carabiner on a short leader to clip to the cable if need be. I figured this would give us the greatest speed and flexibility on the ascent and if she slipped I could provide assistance by securing her until she regained her footing to continue. Clark and Michelle were to do the same but when she arrived and had a look at the cables, which ascend a steep 45 to 60 degree slope, she firmly stated that she was happy to have made it this far and that was the end of the line for her. No amount of encouragement was going to budge her so we headed out to climb the final part of this mountain, the infamous cables.

Clark makes quick work in the lead up the mountain.

Clark took the lead with CP, Erica, myself and Yong pulling up the rear. Clark made it look easy and zoomed as fast as was possible with the others on the route. CP, Erica and I were a little slower but at a comfortable pace. About a third of the way up CP looked back and said he was turning back and that he was slipping. He wished us luck and we continued onward. As Erica and I neared the top, Clark was snapping photos of the occasion. I must say that reaching the top of the cables did give the feeling of euphoria I have often experienced on the fourteeners I have summited. Yong arrived shortly thereafter and we all gave each other hugs, laughs and high fives. We made it! Clark inquired about CP and we gave him the news that he had turned back.

My big chance to throw Clark off a mountain!

Once on the summit we found it a little windy but not too bad. We all took turns heading out to the "diving board" for the famous Halfdome summit shot. Clark headed back down rather quickly to rejoin Michelle who was waiting at the bottom of the cables. Yong, Erica and I enjoyed lunch up top and were harassed by the marmots which were more entertaining than a nuisance. While eating lunch both Erica and I came up with the same idea at about the same time. She asked me if I would be willing to go up again with CP tethered to me and I informed her I was just thinking the same thing. I radioed CP down below to let him know we were about to descend and that I was willing to come back up with him tethered to me. His reply was short, "OK" came back on the radio. The three of us headed down. Me first, facing up the mountain, then Erica tethered to me and Young working his carabiners on the cables. We did well heading down, I had to manage my descent speed to not pull on the tether, look behind me to make sure it was clear and advise Erica of any slippery spots or when I needed her to stop. A few times it proved to much and I pulled on the tether which she quickly let me know about. We made it down and were congratulated by Clark and Michelle which was great. We then headed over to CP to the next phase of the journey.

Yong and Erica on the descent.

We approached CP and I told him I was ready to go back up with him. At first he said no, he did not want to hold up the group. We informed him that there was nothing more important to us than seeing that he make the summit. He told us that he had a mild panic attack when he had turned back the first time and that he had even tried a second time but found that his boots and gloves were slipping. Now this is when Erica used her charm and peer pressure tactics to great success, it was truly magical to watch. She instantly pulled off her gloves and gave them to CP and told him that were so sticky that her hands never slipped. CP took them and felt them and agreed they would help. He then commented about his feet slipping. She took off her shoes and had him try to put them on, no luck. She looked to Yong and asked his shoe size and then ordered him to take off his shoes and let CP try them on. They fit and he felt he had more grip. So now with CP wearing magic gloves and shoes she gave up her harness and he put it on and I clipped him to me, we were ready to go! I asked Yong if he wanted to go up again and he looked at me like I was stupid, "I have no shoes!" he said. How quickly I forget.

CP gets his summit picture and I get my second of the day.

Erica saw us down to the cables and saw us off while shoe-less Yong just waived from his perch. Off we went, heading up the cables again. At this point I was really glad I have been doing push-ups and adding to my upper body workouts lately and the rock gym muscles were really coming in handy for gripping the cables. CP looked confident and I could coach him from behind to let him know when we were on the steepest section and how long it would last until the slope decreased and we would reach the top. It wasn't all that long and he was standing on the summit of the mountain he had been the group leader for. I was very proud of him for giving it another try and happy to have been part of getting him to the top although really I was just there to make him feel comfortable, he did it all on his own. We quickly took his summit pictures and he was ready to head down. As we descended I would call out his name and let him know if we needed to be on both cables, the right or the left. Several people heading up heard me say his name and asked him, " are you CP?" When he replied yes they told him congratulations as they had heard his story down below and told him he had a huge cheering section down below! Our other team members shouted out some encouraging comments on the radio that we both carried as well. We finally made it down and he had the biggest smile on his face you have ever seen. Erica was there to greet us and gave him a big hug. We returned to shoe-less Yong who found another lady who was unable to make the top and said, "are you ready to go again Glenn?" Thank God he was joking. I accused him of being a true entrepreneur by selling my sherpa services but the fact was that after two trips up and down my arms and especially my hands were shot and not ready for another trip without a rest. Fortunately they were just messing with me and I was a good sport about it.

Me, Clark, CP and Erica take a swim, COLD.....!

Erica at Nevada Falls.

Yong got his shoes back and we removed our climbing gear and headed out. It wasn't too long and we had caught up to Clark and Michelle and we were all hiking along together again. We came across quite a few people still heading up to the mountain but were glad to be on our way down. It was rather warm as we descended into Little Yosemite Valley and I floated the idea of going for a swim in the river I had spotted earlier. Clark was all for the idea but nobody else chimed in. As we got closer I tried again and asked if anyone wanted to put their feet in the water to cool off, this time I got a few more people interested, Clark and I still with full intentions of jumping in the ice cold river. We stopped and several of us stripped down and were heading in. I was about to go all in and Erica chimes in that she was not going to be beat by me and jumped in with her clothes on! Well before long Erica, Clark, CP and I were all in the water up to our necks enjoying the cooling power of a cold river in the Sierras. We were in for just over 5 minutes before we got out and felt refreshed. Michelle had her feet in and Yong was our official photographer for the occasion.

Erica and Yong at Vernal Falls.

Shortly after getting back on the trail we reached a point where we needed to decide what trail we wanted to take. We could return via the Mist Trail we had taken up, my preference as the pictures of the falls would be far better in the sun that our early pre-sunrise pictures, or via the John Muir Trail, a slightly longer route with less steep steps. We opted to split up, CP, Clark and Michelle would take the JMT as CP wanted to preserve his knee that had been acting up over the last several months on steep descents while Yong, Erica and I took the Mist Trail to take more photos. Both routes proved to be spectacular and we radioed each other when the trails intersected again later and they were only 15 minutes back. We pushed onward to the trailhead and back to our cars and all met up there to complete our journey.

We later discussed our journey and came to one really big conclusion. We worked very well as a team and everybody looked out for each other. Our radio communication kept us all informed and on the same page even if we were not right next to each other. Our group effort to get CP to the top was a stellar example of why you should hike with people you know and trust. When things get tough you need people with a positive can-do attitude and you will not find a better bunch of them than this group of six! It was an honor and privilege to be together on this journey with great friends, something I am sure none of us will EVER forget.

For the full set of pictures click here.

Michelle sums up our feelings upon completing this outstanding adventure together!