Day 27: Summiting Half Dome

 July 21, 2021

Vanlog, Yosemite View Hotel, el Portal, CA

Today was the big day! Rachel has looked forward to summiting Half Dome with Jessica since a promise they made each other before she started college that after she finished they would stand atop Half Dome together. It seemed like an impossible dream. Permits are hard to come by, for one, and we got only a backpacking permit with option to summit for late July, one of the hottest times of year in Northern California and often in fire season. Then there was the question of our fitness. While Jessica has been in training, she is the oldest at 55. Brian has had BP and blood abnormalities and is 54. He tried twice before and failed: once for lack of water and once for lack of daylight/time. But the hardest part is the mental aspect. You have to be really determined because it’s both physically and mentally challenging.

We woke at 3:30 and left camp for the four-mile hike to Half Dome at 4 AM in the dark. We arrived at the subdome just as the sun was coming up. The subdome is a grueling steep climb on rock stairs and includes a rock scramble with some sheer drop offs. This is where I turned back the last time. 

It was about 7 AM when we donned our harnesses and gloves and started up the cables. The cables are in place to help people not fall off the mountain as they pull themselves up the steep 45 degree pitch on the backside of Half Dome. It took about half an hour to ascend the cables. 

Once up there, the views are stunning. The entire Yosemite Valley stretches out before you.

But then you have to go back down!

I went down backwards and the girls went down mostly sideways. It was another four miles back to camp and then about  five miles of steep descent from there down the Mist Trail past Nevada and Vernal Falls to the Valley floor. What an incredible accomplishment! But please wait to ask us until tomorrow whether it was worth it or not.