I used to work in Yosemite National Park here in California and this has been a particularly deadly summer. Seventeen deaths so far from people fall on trails or off cliffs or getting washed off waterfalls. I actually tried this climb to the top of Half Dome, but once I started going up the cables I realized my fear of heights wouldn't let me finish. By the time you get to them you've already hiked several steep miles (and I was hot, tired and ran out of water by then).

Anyway, it sounds like this poor guy got too close to the edge of the face (which is smooth from an ice age glacier - sheer drop of 2,000 ft) and started slipping until he went off. You an see from the pics its bald granite - nothing to hold onto if the incline gets too steep.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/24/BAC01KRB3S.DTL

Here's a link with a good shot of the face and the sheer 2,000 ft drop:

http://www.public-domain-photos.com/travel/yosemite/half-dome-free-stock-photo-4.htm

Another view of the cable route:

http://i52.tinypic.com/34sjqkj.jpg

I had one terrifying moment while hiking in Yosemite near a drop that high by Yosemite Falls. A friend and I got off the marked trail and too close to the edge. I think that's why reading something like this affects me the way it does. Absolutely gives me chills. Anyway, its a beautiful place unlike any other and I highly recommend going there if you can (just be careful!).

Oh dear god. What is wrong with you, nature?

Ack, a dirt dart. Poor dude was alive for the fall.

Do folks tie into the cables? Monkey tails or lobster claws?

He fell of the face, according to the OP. You climb up the back side, and while it is very steep from what I've heard, you'd probably just roll down and break a few bones if you fall while climbing up. And no, you don't tie to the cables, at least according to what I've heard and pictures I've seen. (Don't quote me, this is basically a mix of what I've been told and speculation.)

17 people dead? I'll avoid this trip thank you very much.

Can't remember who said it (I think it was some guy that had climbed Mt. Everest), but "Nature is not fair or unfair, it's just dangerous."

I feel some sympathy for the people that get hurt or die from some freakish accident, but I seriously have no compassion for the idiots that go out of their way to get in to that sort of situation. The three people that went over the waterfalls was really asking for it... and they got it. (Have they even found their bodies yet?)

Nope, you just hang on!

I've wanted to climb the half dome for a few years now, but hearing these stories always sends chills down my spine.

Here's a video of Vernal Fall where three people died after climbing over a guard rail and getting swept into the river. Crazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8MOq7fGvlg&feature=related

We had a really wet winter this year and there is tons of snow melt in the Sierra. The waterfalls are huge.

You guys think Yosemite is a scary climb, imagine how scary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw&playnext=1&list=PL040224DA35879178 must be.

I've always wanted to hike up Half Dome, have only gone to Yosemite once. It's awesome though, the falls are amazing.

lol

That's going on my list of things I will never, ever do.

pun intended?

But really, it's an at your own risk thing, if you fall and die, it's your fault, though I still do feel bad about it.

I think i'll stick to virtual mountain climbing, thanks Still, those are some awesome sights, i'd love to see that in person.

2000 feet, that's over half a kilometer. Falling down from there would propably feel like taking forever... On the positive (or the closest thing to a "positive" such situation could have :shakehead:) side, it'll kill instantly. Atleast i hope it did.

I got a weird feeling just watching that... 5:50 scares the [censored] out of me

What is that feeling by the way? It isn't vertigo is it? I get restless and my legs feel weird. No dizziness or anything though. I like it.

I wanna do it.

If I weren't so deathly afraid of heights, I'd take the risk, provided I was in Spain and not California of course. I'd probably be able to brave Yosemite though - I've climbed scarier things without cables to hold onto.


No, that's the feeling of insanity, you crazy fool. :biggrin:

I have a fear of extreme heights too. Even a photograph taken from a high bridge or out of a tall building gives me vertigo.
It's called acrophobia.

Funny thing is, I did sheet metal roofing about 15-20 years ago. A lot of our work was on six or seven story buildings. I used to walk on a foot wide facade carrying a 30 pound five gallon bucket full of tools in one hand and smoking a cigarette with the other without a second thought.

My fear of heights has just manifested over the past few years.

But, I don't fear it, I like the feeling. I'm not really scared of heights at all. It gets me awake, like a little mini adrenaline surge.

Yeah, fear may be too strong of a word to use.

I don't get all teary and panicky either. It's more of a feeling of exhilaration. Like a rush, or like you said, a sense of vertigo.

It feels like something along the lines of being a adrenaline junkie, but not quite as extreme.

A friend of mind broke both legs hiking some mountain in Colorado, got on one of the edges and fell. Blacked out and woke up in his friends car. I've never been one to fear nature but eesh, the truth hurts.

Holy crap. I'm not afraid of heights at all I think, but I get crazy vertigo. If I'm up high and can see the drop I get all woozy and lose my balance - and I've never been anywhere high like that. Unless you count a plane, but that's never bothered me. I can't go on an escalator without holding on though, otherwise I get dizzy and fall over.

I reckon it would be amazing to go up to places like that, but I'd need all the tourist friendly trappings like giant foolproof handrails to make it.

*clicks*
Hmmm, doesn't look too bad, I mean there's concrete stairs and a railing...

1:10
Uhhh, is that walkway supported by anything?

1:25
OH HELL NO!

*slams down back button*