To the editor: I’ve climbed Half Dome 13 occasions, descending the cables every time. I’ve extra expertise than most, so right here is my opinion. (“Want to make Half Dome safer? Remove the climbing cables for good,” letters, Aug. 11)
The Nationwide Park Service doesn’t take the cables down, ever. That may be a misunderstanding of what it does. It removes the stanchions that maintain the cables about three ft off the rock and removes the wooden planks that present footing. The cables are at all times there.
The primary time I climbed the cables with my son, I believed they have to actually be protected or else they wouldn’t allow us to do it. That’s not true. There are many issues in nature which can be inherently harmful, and the park service doesn’t have the accountability for making all the pieces utterly protected.
The cables are harmful. Working right into a bear in Little Yosemite Valley is harmful (as we did as soon as). Driving to Yosemite is harmful. Recover from it.
There are many indicators that let you know to remain off the rock if climate is on the best way. Typically individuals don’t acknowledge that climate is on the best way.
It’s unhappy {that a} younger lady died, and I’m not sure of all the circumstances of her loss of life, however eradicating the cables is not going to preserve individuals from dying once they make unhealthy selections.
Jim Dover, Idyllwild
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To the editor: Just a few years in the past, I noticed a classic picture from the Nineteen Thirties depicting a gaggle of Boy Scouts as they ready to ascend the cables to the highest of Half Dome. What impressed me was that every scout was sporting a harness with lanyard that might be affixed to the cable throughout their climb, doubtless saving a life if somebody have been to slide.
It looks like a common sense strategy in 2024. If required together with the climbing allow, we wouldn’t should learn extra tales of climbers falling to their loss of life.
Dan Murray, San Mateo, Calif.
