Yosemite News Release
January 29, 2010
For Immediate Release

Media Contacts:
Scott Gediman 209-372-0248
Kari Cobb 209-372-0529

Yosemite National Park Announces Interim Program for
Half Dome Day Use Permits to Address Visitor Safety
Program to begin May 2010

Hiking to the top of Half Dome is one of the most popular hikes in Yosemite National Park. The iconic granite monolith, at 8,842 feet above sea level, attracts people from all over the world who attempt to climb to the summit.
Most visitors ascend Half Dome via the cables, which are in place from mid-May through mid-October.

Approximately 84,000 people climbed to the top of Half Dome in 2008.
Although there are several trailheads leading to the cables on Half Dome, the majority of visitors start their hike at the Happy Isles Trailhead in Yosemite Valley.

The increase in popularity of the hike has resulted in large numbers of visitors using the cables, particularly on weekends and holidays. During last summer, Saturdays and holidays averaged 840 visitors per day. On peak days, visitor numbers were estimated at 1100 to 1200. This increase has resulted in significant safety concerns. Specifically, there was both a visitor fatality and a visitor who sustained serious injuries on the cables during two consecutive crowded weekends last summer. This increase in use has also impacted the resources and has negatively affected the visitor experience. For example, visitors have had to wait up to an hour to ascend the cables on a busy day.

In an effort to address these issues, the park will institute an interim program that will require a Day Use Permit to hike the cables on Half Dome on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays starting in May, 2010. Four hundred permits will be issued per day, 300 of these will be Day Use Permits and 100 will be included in wilderness permits. These permits are required for the use of the trail from the base of the Subdome to the summit of Half Dome and include the Half Dome cable route.

The Half Dome Day Use Permits will be available starting March 1, 2010 through www.recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. Each person climbing the Half Dome cables will be required to have their own permit.
Up to four permits may be obtained under one reservation. The permits are free, however, there is a non-refundable $1.50 service charge for each permit obtained.

During this interim program, visitor use and impacts to the park will be monitored. Yosemite National Park Rangers will be studying visitor use and safety, assessing the visitor experience, and compiling data that will be analyzed by park managers. At this point, the interim program will be in effect for the 2010 visitor season, as well as the 2011 visitor season. An Environmental Assessment process for a long-term plan for the Half Dome Cables will begin public scoping in spring 2010.

-NPS-

Editor’s Note: Photographs of the Half Dome cables are available by emailing kari_cobb@nps.gov

The Goooooogling thingy found this link
http://www.nps.gov/yose/parknews/hdpermits1.htm
Looks legit

I wonder if you need a day permit to descend the cables after climbing up Snake Dike or other climbs

Edit:
Ooops, a little more reading answerd my question. No permit needed for climbers descending the cables.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm

The permits are free, however, there is a non-refundable $1.50 service charge for each permit obtained.

sounds good

If you have to pay $1.50, then it really isn't free now, is it? They have to do something. It is a zoo on that rock.

Definitely a good idea. It should cost more though, to limit no shows. $15 would make people think twice before getting permits, and then changing their plans later.

why go up on the weekend anyway there is always way too many people

Taking the cables down for a year would be an interesting experiment.

I'm guessing a portion of that traffic would wind up on Cloud's Rest.

The east face would become a the most popular easy 5th class route in the Valley.

It's kinda funny because the view from the top of H-Dome is the marginal. It's much better to be looking at it: North Dome, Glacier Point, El Cap., Cloud's Rest, etc.

squishy wrote:

norco17 wrote:

The permits are free, however, there is a non-refundable $1.50 service charge for each permit obtained.

They have to pay the person working the desk I guess pay for the paper to print the permits right?

Photo copy= $.10x400permits=$40
Park aids pay at $10/hour for an 8 hour day=$80

80+40=120

where does the other $480 go?

I realize we have a lot of mixed feelings about fees. But I wonder if a $1.50 fee is that much, compared to the expense of getting to Yosemite?

Somebody should take it upon themself, to remove the cables, if the NPS won't.

SpiderSavage wrote:Taking the cables down for a year would be an interesting experiment.

I'm guessing a portion of that traffic would wind up on Cloud's Rest.

The east face would become a the most popular easy 5th class route in the Valley.

It's kinda funny because the view from the top of H-Dome is the marginal. It's much better to be looking at it: North Dome, Glacier Point, El Cap., Cloud's Rest, etc.

What he said!!

MoapaPk wrote:I realize we have a lot of mixed feelings about fees. But I wonder if a $1.50 fee is that much, compared to the expense of getting to Yosemite?

It’s not the price, it’s the Orwellian government bs: The permit is free if you pay the price to get it. Black is white. Up is down. Peace is war…

And you can bet that the administrative fee to get the free permit will be $20.00 soon enough.

Given the overwhelming weekend crowds, I'm mixed on the idea of a quota system for safety reasons. But ignoring that issue, it's really sad to see the NPS break from their usual permit policy. I'd expect something along the lines of:

60% are reserveable in advance, and cost more than $1.50, so that people have an incentive to claim them.

40% are available starting 11AM day before, free and clear, no BS "processing fee". If it's truly a safety issue, one less helicopter flight per year would pay for the extra staff required to handle the line.

I find it unfathomable that you can't climb HD on a Fri or Sun without ordering online ahead of time. How long until a bunch of "entrepreneurs" buy a truckload of tickets and start scalping them on Craigslist?

butitsadryheat wrote:

ksolem wrote:
And you can bet that the administrative fee to get the free permit will be $20.00 soon enough.

Only if they unionize the ticket agents!

Are you kidding?? If they do that they'll put the administrative fee at $80.00, and add a surtax of .5% to everyone in the state earning more than 100K...