Hiker fell from the cables during/after that violent storm system yesterday afternoon:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/parknews/laflammesar.htm

sigh

I've read some unconfirmed reports that lightening was involved.

That was one hell of an electrical cloudburst that hit the Yosemite/Mammoth area yesterday.

Hayley LaFlamme, a 26 year old female from San Ramon, California, had gone to the top of Half Dome and was descending when she fell 600 feet off the cables. National Park Rangers pronounced her deceased upon arrival on scene.

The last hiker who died on Half Dome was Majoj Kumar, from San Ramon, California, on June 13, 2009.

Odd coincidence. My condolences to her family and friends...

Two unrelated fatalities on Half Dome from San Ramon...

I think I will avoid this particular peak in the future.

For those of us that venture off the beaten path into the wilderness we have a deep appreciation and respect for this planet and nature. As the ancient Chinese believed everything is in balance and harmony, as is nature. The delicate beauty contained therein also harbors great power for destruction.
Saturday July 31,2011 while hiking from Tenaya lake over Clouds Rest with my experienced partner, his 19 yr old neice and her bf I stopped us at 9200' to assess the culminating cloud activity. We ate and decided it best to take the lower path and visit Clouds Rest another day. My partner and I had already been there, it would have been a first for the other two. They agreed although displayed a little disappointment. On the way down to the trail junction it began to rain and the thunder grew. We passed a couple happily chatting walking into the storm up towards open granite above 9500' while an afternoon thunderstorm was brewing. We hiked for about 2 hours through rain and fantastic thunder. About the time we would have been on or just off the summit there was a lightning strike up on clouds rest that sounded like a giant hammer striking the granite monolith. My partner looked at me then the others and said "Let this moment be a lesson you never forget. Always make decisions based on safety first not on what you desire."

I think that the National Park has to re-engineer the cables because the present setup is clearly is inadequate and dangerous. The path should be widen,every person should wear a harness ,and should be clipped into an ascent cable on one side while going up and a descent cable on the other side while going down . No one should be allowed to ascend in bad weather and the costs of the system should be included in their permit.
The present situation is going to result in new rules and regulations that will have unintended impacts on peak baggers and technical climbers .

I'm not going to say that this is in any way the NPS' fault, but frankly it was only a matter of time this happened. The new permit system creates this sense of "winning the lottery" since permits are so hard to come by now (a lot of blame goes to scalpers). People get a permit and think it will be their only chance to climb Half Dome, so people (stupidly) take enormous risks by attempting the cables in rain and lightning.

I think as long as this permit system is in place, there will be more people who make bad choices and continue up the cables in crappy weather, knowing it is their only shot.

I don't know if eliminating the permit system would be better than it was before...my point is because of the way this system is set up, more people will do stupid things in order to get their perceived shot at glory...and the number of fatalities from this overrated hike will increase.

The permit system has had no effect on safety, which was it's intent. It only serves to reduce the crowds, which is a meaningless objective. You might as well limit total daily visitation to the park... only 1000 people get in... wilderness experience.

No effect, and I do not think this accident will result in much either. Those cables have been there for decades, and every couple years someone slips off and dies whether there is a permit system or not. Just part of the risk really, nothing to be done about it. The idea was less crowds would allow folks to stay inside the cables and make it safer, but as AceSierra point out, now that you are dealing with permits folks believe they are forced to go on their allocated day, weather be damned.

Just let folks have at it and do what they want, same as climbing the other peaks.

Yeah I don't know what they were doing up there in the storm. I read there was a group 20? Surely someone in that group would have common sense to not do it in the rain? There's even a plaque up there in the mini saddle saying how often lightning strikes half dome.

Here's yahoo article on the matter.

http://news.yahoo.com/600-foot-fall-marks-14th-yosemite-death-232529077.html

Palisades79 wrote:I think that the National Park has to re-engineer the cables because the present setup is clearly is inadequate and dangerous. The path should be widen,every person should wear a harness ,and should be clipped into an ascent cable on one side while going up and a descent cable on the other side while going down . No one should be allowed to ascend in bad weather and the costs of the system should be included in their permit.
The present situation is going to result in new rules and regulations that will have unintended impacts on peak baggers and technical climbers .

I disagree. Accidents happen and one big problem we have in society today is implementing new rules, laws and regulations everytime something goes awry. Shit happens.

tragic, be careful out there thoughg

1 on Half Dome, 3 on Vernal Falls.

Anyone know what happened wrt to the other 10 deaths in Yosemite? Fourteen in a year is a lot.