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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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May 25, 2018 - 08:22am PT
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RR once climbed the cable route "no-hands," wearing hard rubber Spiders, I think, crossing them twice but not touching them. This was long before the route's popularity had made the rock within the cables very slick. I wonder if the route could now be done "no-hands," wearing "sticky" rubber...
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Texplorer
Trad climber
Sacramento
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May 25, 2018 - 10:11am PT
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Sorry to hear of the young man's death for whatever reason.
I believe the cables are considered a historic human made feature so they have protections around changing them - ie adding rubber coating or changing configuration of slats.
Wouldn't a via ferrata setup solve all but the lightning strike issues? Seems obvious that people should have the appropriate gear. Maybe the permit system could recommend a harness and lockers of some sort.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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May 25, 2018 - 11:06am PT
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I went down the cables once after soloing Snake Dike, and found it just as easy to walk down to the side of the cables since it was such a low angle.
The Tourons were perplexed at my sticky shoes, but it wasn't the shoes, it was just knowing that you can walk down low angle friction if you stay up right
That's still my preferred way down, Craig.
It bothers me how casually so many climbers dismiss the death of a "mere" hiker. Hiking, not least of which was the hike to Half Dome, made me want to learn to climb.
Probably my most memorable trip up and down the cables came in the summer of 1968, when I was 17. I was backpacking alone (for the first time in my life), and started at Tuolumne Meadows that morning, hoping to get to Sunrise for the evening. I grossly underestimated my backpacking speed, when I showed up at Sunrise for breakfast, so I decided to keep going. I got to the Half Dome Trail junction at about noon, and decided I might as well detour to Half Dome. That would be my fourth time to the top.
As a result, I got to see a party top out on the RNWF. I had been climbing a little over a year, but never in Yosemite, so this was a real thrill for me. I, and a party of two hikers, were the only other ones on the summit.
Take it easy on the hikers. They may end up being life-long climbers some day.
John
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Topic Author's Reply - May 25, 2018 - 11:32am PT
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They should replace the steel cable with rubber coated rope to reduce danger from lightning + it would provide a much better grip.
Lightning strikes are 300kV, that would arc through any coating they put on the cable. A car ignition system is about 20kv and it is hard enough to contain between the distributor and spark plug.
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