Half Dome hike for disabled

Search
Go

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List
This thread has been locked
Messages 1 - 20 of total 37 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Wogman

Social climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 22, 2017 - 01:53pm PT
Greetings, I have been working on this project for about 7 months. I have spoken with Yosemite, rock climbers and many sources. I am planning an ascent to the summit of Half Dome via the John Muir trail, sub dome, and the cables on May 20th 2017. The rock climbing gear has been donated, along with the Trailrider all terrain wheelchair. I need sherpas with rock climbing experience. For more information check out the Facebook link below. Get involved!

https://www.facebook.com/allaccessible/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Cheers!
Jon Beck

Trad climber
Oceanside
Apr 22, 2017 - 01:58pm PT
Could you elaborate what you need help with? Must of us on this forum hate Facebook.
looks easy from here

climber
Ben Lomond, CA
Apr 22, 2017 - 01:58pm PT
May might be a bit optimistic. Cable route less than 2 weeks ago:
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
Apr 22, 2017 - 02:11pm PT
Hey there Wogman,

I appreciate your gusto and watched your entire video and checked out the website. My only concern is the part in the video that said you planned to use the stanchions (the vertical steel struts) for the cables ascent and that you would be using them to anchor/haul the Trailrider. You might want to talk to the head of search and rescue before doing this. Those things are not permanent fixtures and aren't meant to bear weight like that. They are simply used to hold the cables up off of the rock. They are not permanent fixtures and I wouldn't assume they are meant to bear weight like you seem to intend to do. I would never trust my life or my bodyweight or my companions bodyweight to those things if they were being used to haul off of.

Just a thought. Try to track down somebody with a bit more experience with what you are trying to do. I'm sure all different types of disabled folks have gone up there using various methods. You definitely need to have a couple people who have been up-and-down those cables on your team. Also, it looks like your rig would take up the entire space inside the cables. That could pose a hazard or at least a real big drag to people trying to go up and down that day. You might want to consider doing it at night..... or in the hour before dawn since it will probably take you and your team a good bit of time.

Go hard!

Scott
Jon Beck

Trad climber
Oceanside
Apr 22, 2017 - 02:21pm PT
The Mist trail will be a nightmare with that rig and the crowds. Might want to bivy in LYV and do a pre-dawn start.
chainsaw

Trad climber
CA
Apr 22, 2017 - 02:42pm PT
You can totally do the route! Ditch the wheelchair at the cables, then you are lighter? Keep blogging here. Someone wiser than me knows how to do it. I cant wait to see pics of you top out that thing!
chainsaw

Trad climber
CA
Apr 22, 2017 - 02:55pm PT
If there are alot of people on the route, they can help you. Perhaps make the date of your send known on this forum when weather allows. Perhaps folks who are interested will want to climb the route and work with you. If ten parties on the route that day are groovy, they can leapfrog you up. Are your arms strong enough to jumar up a three to one? Put a gri gir on you and put your TR through it. Put a jumar upstream on the taught rope. Put the tail coming from your gri gri through a biner on the jumar. Pull the rope and up you go. Slow but sure. I bet parties would anchor your rope.
chainsaw

Trad climber
CA
Apr 22, 2017 - 03:08pm PT
Put up flyers in camp 4 and Marys Pizza Shak. I might be able to come set up rigging ahead of you. Also, contact Hans Florine. He manages Touchstone Concord. Their name may have changed to Diablo Rock Club. But Concord they are. Touchstone is a big supporter of adventures like yours. Contact management. And Hans is great at go fast rigging. Also obsessed with what can be measured. His best quote: if it can be measured, it can be improved. The anchors on the cables may be feeble. But you arent leading it. Use lotsa rope for anchor material and tie lotsa knots. The cables are not coming down. Be sensible and you can anchor off the cables. Dont push your luck. Do it right. Fix lines ahead of time or have a leapfrog setting fixed lines ahead of you. Its so doable!
Crazy Bat

Sport climber
Birmingham, AL & Seweanee, TN
Apr 22, 2017 - 03:28pm PT
I have been with a group that hires mules to haul in gear to the top of ElCap. We use the Toulome Meadows guys.

http://www.myyosemitepark.com/go-horseback-riding-in-yosemite/


hagerty

Social climber
A Sandy Area South of a Salty Lake
Apr 22, 2017 - 04:51pm PT
Micronut wrote:
Also, it looks like your rig would take up the entire space inside the cables. That could pose a hazard or at least a real big drag to people trying to go up and down that day. You might want to consider doing it at night..... or in the hour before dawn since it will probably take you and your team a good bit of time.

In high season it can look like this:
Jon Beck

Trad climber
Oceanside
Apr 22, 2017 - 04:57pm PT
That picture above is pre-permit cables. Of course getting permits for your sherpas will not be easy, assuming the cables are even up.
zBrown

Ice climber
Apr 22, 2017 - 05:03pm PT
Most folks frequenting the ST are disabled in some fashion.

Just how much harder is it, speaking quantitatively, to go up that 1/2 Dome without the cables vs. with the cables.



Compare that with the Atlantic Ocean.


Haul on that bowline.

zBrown

Ice climber
Apr 22, 2017 - 05:05pm PT
More seriously, Godspeed with your venture Wogman.

There are some good, albeit disabled , folks on the ST.

WBraun

climber
Apr 22, 2017 - 06:39pm PT
1st and most important ...

How much do you weight?

Having hauled hundreds of people down that trail is no fun at all what to speak of hauling you up that trail.

What trail wheelchair do you even have?

If it's that single wheel gizmo you're in for a big surprise .........
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Apr 22, 2017 - 10:13pm PT
hey there say... wow, supertopo has the info, for sure...

guided by prudence-of-mind... wishing the best to you...

these supertopo-guys know what they are talking about...

this is one of those times, when the 'abundance of counselors' DOES help...
kunlun_shan

Mountain climber
SF, CA
Apr 22, 2017 - 10:59pm PT
I can't imagine the Trailrider wheelchair is going to be stable enough and not flip over on the cables. Good luck!

Here's the video from the OP:

[Click to View YouTube Video]

and another video of a TrailRider:

[Click to View YouTube Video]
Jon Beck

Trad climber
Oceanside
Apr 22, 2017 - 11:30pm PT
This is a similar trip. The South Kaibab trail is similar to the Mist trail. The Bright Angel trail is close to being a road. With enough harnesses maybe you could do the cables, but keeping the chair balanced could be a challenge.

[Click to View YouTube Video]
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Apr 22, 2017 - 11:45pm PT
hey there say, kunlun_shan, and all... wow, the videos are really interesting, and exploring new ways to help folks get to enjoy the parks, and hikes is wonderful...

the only thing, that i ( i know, i know, too much mommy) well, that
i think is needing stricter attention, is this:

the part about being safe... they mention, making it safe...

actually, you really can't make the cables 'safe' as to a quarentee...

no matter what shape us humans are in, physically well, or not, well:

these cables are NOT safe-- they are an adventure that could go wrong...
better to be said:

to make IT AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE... as to the situation of the terrain...

they are a dangerous climb, and it would be
PRUDENT to at least make sure that those that DO WANT to still
do that climb, KNOW THAT, beyond all info, first...

as they say about climbing:

'do so at your own risk'
(like the warning, here on the website of supertopo)
Climbing is dangerous. Climb at your own risk.



so, please, i do not mean to be 'wet blanket' just that
it is best to not note a full 'safety' in the situation, oh my...


still, wishing the best to those that have that wonderful
spirit of adventure...

that is WHAT LIFE IS all about, and we all have our dream...
and-- it IS WONDERFUL when others can help us reach them!


:)

chainsaw

Trad climber
CA
Apr 23, 2017 - 12:11am PT
You can drag yourself up that shyt on ropes. Ditch the chair and trust your crew. You need four people. Two who will leapfrog (swing leads) your ropes and gear. Two who will attend to your progress and safety. Technically, because you are making a technical assent, the park might let you bivy near the top off the route on the slab. Talk to Chongo about long hauls. He might suggest that you have to do the route. If you are patient and take time on this forum and at camp 4, you will find helpers. For me, any challenge at technical rigging is fun stuff. The stuff of climbing! I dont care the route is 4th class. The challenge of what you propose makes it very appealing. Are you okay with maybe getting hauled (dragged) up and lowered (slid) down? If you are willing to be hauled, we can make it. It will take all day, but its very doable. I need a ride. But I got gear and can maybe recruit other climbers. I think that many people on the cables would help haul if some pros are helping out. We will need to get permission from park service I think. I bet some YOSAR guys would see your ascent and decent as a training opportunity. If they lend a hand, they get training and props. What does Werner think?
nah000

climber
no/w/here
Apr 23, 2017 - 12:28am PT
this is a nice idea... without further clarification by the o.p. it is currently looking, to put it politely, ill informed.

you [Wogman] say you've spoken to "Yosemite": who specifically?

'cause realistically unless you get them to shut permits down for the day so you can have the cables to yourself, i can't see anyone with any authority approving your plan to haul the one wheeled wheelchair up there on a regularly permitted day.

chainsaw's approach sounds more realistic. i suspect even that is going to be a logistical challenge both due to the actual climbing itself but also due to having to navigate the bureaucratic requirements that would be needed to use the cables in that manner...



while i applaud your gung ho attitude, you don't seem to give any indication that you understand a. how steep the cables are or b. how heavily used the cables are...

and so right now, unless you've just done a very poor job of communicating your plan and these difficulties have already been accounted for, i hope you get a lot more information before you start tilting at too many windmills. 'cause in this case, the windmills may turn out to be actual giants.

best of luck though. i do believe if there is a will there is a way...
Messages 1 - 20 of total 37 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Return to Forum List
 
Our Guidebooks
spacerCheck 'em out!
SuperTopo Guidebooks

guidebook icon
Try a free sample topo!

 
SuperTopo on the Web

Recent Route Beta