Legislators want more access to Half Dome

With the release of the Yosemite National Park proposal on the Half Dome cable system, public discussion has begun and area politicians have taken positions in support of increased public access.

The Half Dome Trail Stewardship Plan was developed to address overcrowding and safety concerns on the Half Dome Trail, including the two-mile section between the John Muir Trail and the Half Dome summit.

Critics say the plan limits public access to the trail and groups like Wilderness Watch, feel the cables should be removed altogether.

The plan lists five options, ranging from decreasing the number of permits issued to ascend Half Dome’s cables, to removing the cables completely.

As it stands, 300 day-use and 100 overnight wilderness permits are issued daily for Half Dome, said Kari Cobb, Yosemite spokeswoman.
The “preferred alternative” is to keep the cables in place and limit daily use to 300 permit holders.

Congressman Tom McClintock, of the state’s 4th District, sent a letter to the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Jan. 25, outlining his support for adding a third cable to Yosemite’s iconic Half Dome.

McClintock urged Salazar to “address the growing demands” for use permits and expressed his concern over decreased access to the trail.

When the park instituted a permit system to access Half Dome in 2010, it was in an effort to reduce overcrowding, park officials said.

According to McClintock and those at SaveHalfDome.com, the permit system resulted in thousands of people being denied access to the iconic summit.    

“For over a year, rather than developing the means to provide greater access to Half Dome, the National Park Service has instead weighed options to eliminate it completely by removing cables to the last 400 feet of the Half Dome Trail that were originally installed by the Sierra Club in 1919,” McClintock wrote to the Department of the Interior. “I understand your concerns about overcrowding on the cables at Half Dome, but I believe that they can be addressed by adding a third cable to make the trail safer and expand public access at the same time.”   

“Eliminating or greatly restricting access to a national treasure is utterly at odds with the mission of an agency that is supposed to encourage, welcome, facilitate and maximize the public’s enjoyment of the public’s natural monuments,” he wrote.

Mason Harrison, a Sonora native and founder of SaveHalfDome.com, now works in Washington, D.C., in a publicity firm and has worked to garner support of adding another cable to Half Dome and eliminating the permit system.
Harrison said growing up, he developed a passion for the Half Dome Trail and enjoys bringing people to Yosemite.

“When the permit system was implemented I found it really difficult to get a permit,” he said. “I have a busy work schedule. If you’re unable to plan ahead three, four, five months in advance, you might not be able to get one.”
The high demand has also led to people selling their permits for a profit, Harrison said.

“I founded this website, because I can’t bear the thought of future generations or my kids not being able to climb one of the most famous monoliths,” Harrison said. “It opens a gateway to learning about principles of conservation and environmental awareness.”

Installing a third cable would reduce congestion, he said.

“It’s a reasonable position,” Harrison said.

Congressman Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, who represents the 19th District, hasn’t come forward with a favored alternative for the Half Dome cables, but does favor public access.

“Limiting access to our public lands is not the proper approach. Yosemite is a key driver of our local economy and many jobs are dependent on the visitation and tourism numbers Half Dome attracts,” Denham said.

State Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, supports keeping the cables, according to her staff.
“Kristin believes the cables are historic and removing them now would send the wrong message and be a huge mistake,” communications director Jennifer Gibbons said.

Republican State Sen. Tom Berryhill’s office declined to comment.

In December, the national lobby group Wilderness Watch penned a letter to Yosemite officials arguing that the cables on Half Dome violated the rock’s federal wilderness status.

“We recognize that the cable system has been in place for many years, long before the Yosemite Wilderness was designated,” wrote George Nickas, Wilderness Watch executive director. “But like many traditional activities or uses, the system is no longer compatible with broader public goals for the area.”
“

At the end of the day, if the visitors and users of wilderness aren’t willing to make sacrifices to preserve the wilderness character of these areas, then we just won’t have wilderness. We’ll have some Disney-fied version of it,” Nickas said in a later statement to the Associated Press.

Wilderness Watch officials call the cables “handrails in the wilderness” and Nickas told the AP his agency might sue to have them removed if park officials don’t choose that option.

“There is often an attempt by agencies to make wilderness all things to all people, and they can’t do that and still be wilderness,” he said.

Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964, and 20 years later designated 95 percent of Yosemite, including Half Dome and the eight-mile trail leading to it, as land that should not be altered.

The park’s visitor traffic topped 4 million in 2011, the highest since the mid-1990s.
At least five people have died on the cables since 2006, as recently as last summer, nearly all with rain as a factor, park officials said.

The park’s current cable plan began in 2010 and has been for the 2011 and 2012 hiking seasons. The permits to climb Half Dome cost $1.50 per person.

The park has proposed five alternatives to the current system.

Alternative A, the “No Action” alternative, would retain the cable system and manage the Half Dome Trail as it had been up until 2009, without permits. However, a park statement said Alternative A actually violates National Park Service policy and can’t be considered.

Alternative B proposes keeping the cables on Half Dome and allowing up to 400 hikers to get wilderness permits each day.

Alternative C is the “preferred alternative,” and would allow the park to decrease the number of permits issued to 300 total, Cobb said.

Under Alternative D, the park would retain the cables and implement day-use limits through a permit system that would allow up to 140 hikers per day, a park statement said.

For Alternative E, the park would remove the cable system entirely.

The park will accept public comment on the plan through March. The approved plan will be implemented for the 2013 hiking season.

The plan is available for review at parkplanning.nps.gov/halfdome. Hard copies or CDs may be requested by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Comments can also be mailed by post to P.O. Box 577 Yosemite, California 95389, c/o Superintendent, Attn: Half Dome Plan; or by sending a fax to 379-1294.