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Very random, I know...but does anyone happen to know the approximate width of the cables on Half Dome? Or alternatively, any recommendations on a carabiner you've already used on the cables that you know will fit?

I'm planning on heading up there in April while the cables are down and wanted to get either one of these from REI:

http://www.rei.com/product/737862/
-has an opening clearance of 21mm

http://www.rei.com/product/737864/
-has an opening clearance of 25mm

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Since the cables will be down, they won't be attached to any poles and with a simple clip-in, you will slide quite a ways.

At any rate, see here: http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,42063,42164

LordGarican wrote:Since the cables will be down, they won't be attached to any poles and with a simple clip-in, you will slide quite a ways.

At any rate, see here: http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,42063,42164

Thank you for the hazard warning, however this carabiner clip-in question I had was for my *back-up*. My primary tie-in will be with a separate rope using a prusik knot

thephotomatt wrote:

LordGarican wrote:Since the cables will be down, they won't be attached to any poles and with a simple clip-in, you will slide quite a ways.

At any rate, see here: http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,42063,42164

Thank you for the hazard warning, however this carabiner clip-in question I had was for my *back-up*. My primary tie-in will be with a separate rope using a prusik knot

What is the rope going to be attached to? Not another person, I hope! April sounds kind of sketchy, may be lots of ice still stuck to the route.

Deb wrote:What is the rope going to be attached to? Not another person, I hope! April sounds kind of sketchy, may be lots of ice still stuck to the route.

The rope is going to be attached to my harness

So in summary, there will be 2 connection points from my harness to the cable:
-one rope with a prusik knot
-and one rope with a carabiner

I'm going to very much play April by ear...get a feel for the weather a few weeks prior. If I need to, I'll push out to late April or early May.

Thanks!

I used a Kong HMS biner to clip my purcell prusik to the cables for descent in October after Snake Dike. The cables were down, and this was simply a backup in case of a foot slip and inability to hold oneself solely via grip on the cable. You can probably find the specs on the opening clearance of gate on the web.

thephotomatt wrote:Very random, I know...but does anyone happen to know the approximate width of the cables on Half Dome?

The cable back in 2003. I'd say it's somewhere between five-eighths and three-quarters of an inch in diameter.

You are aware that the cables are not one long cable? (You'll be having to transfer your clip in from cable to cable as you ascend (while awkwardly stooped over and lifting the cable away from the rock)

And a non dampening carabiner setup is not going to behave well in the event of an actual fall.



http://i.imgur.com/719lGZc.jpg

April may still have snow on the lower half of the cables. In that case, you may have to climb quite a bit without any tie-in just to find the cables. This photo is from a descent in March of 2003. We went up Snake Dike and down the cables. Used a prussik on descent, but eventually couldn't get the cables up out of the snow. We rapped and then had a somewhat sketchy downclimb from the end of the rope. The underlying rock is pretty smooth slab and I don't like trusting the snow not to slide off. Anyway, just one more thing to consider...

For what it's worth, I went up and down the in May of 2007 when the cables were down. I climbed up and down them with a pair of gloves and no protection. Probably stupid, but it would have been pretty easy to do with a prussick or 2. You could easily transfer between sections of cable as they are attached to large eye bolts that you can clip into. I'd get a super early start so you're not sharing the route with anyone (if possible). I was literally the only person going up the route at that time of the day, and the only one on the summit when I made it up. Quite an incredible experience.

PS - going down was really easy compared to going up.

I did it in mid-March of 2013, a dry year. The route was almost completely dry. I used two autoblocks to my harness, alternating them to pass eyebolts. That felt like on overkill, under dry conditions.

Did it today. Very dry. One ice spot. Worst part, picking up the cables! I would add a cows tail for the transfer points if nervous

Benefit of doing it now, we saw two parties on top... Try that in July....

The first time I went up the cables was at 10pm during a full moon that lit up the whole Valley . It was a grand "Ansel Adams" view & there were no crowds.

ScottyP wrote:Benefit of doing it now, we saw two parties on top... Try that in July....

Thanks for the inspiration ScottyP!

I wouldn't have guessed there'd be so little snow at this time of year. The cable route was completely dry yesterday and we had Snake Dike and the summit to ourselves. A few others were coming up the cables as we descended. We were in tshirts the whole day with fine weather. For anyone interested, pictures here.