camp 4 beta

Planning to climb in yosemite march 12-16 and trying to get some info on camping. I've read as much info as I could but still couldn't find what I wanted. From what I read, rangers show up at 830am at the kiosk and from other people's suggestions to show up in line at least by 6am to secure a spot. I plan to drive up from Southern California the night prior and probably get to the park around 1-2am. Is it safe for me to just head straight to the parking lot and crash in the car for a couple hours or is there a better place to park prior to lining up at the kiosk?

What do most people usually do to get a spot?

I wouldn't imagine that at that time of the year you will need to be there super early to secure a spot.

That said you will not be able to just pull up and sleep in your car in the parking lot. You'll get woken up by rangers.

I would car camp just outside the park entrance and you can roll over at 8 and secure a spot no problem.

I doubt the kiosk will even be manned, never seen anyone in it till April…….the Valley doesn't usually get "going" till Late March-mid April……it's self serve in early March…….though they walk through and check tags every few days.

oliver kollar wrote:I doubt the kiosk will even be manned, never seen anyone in it till April…….the Valley doesn't usually get "going" till Late March-mid April……it's self serve in early March…….though they walk through and check tags every few days.

tags? like your camp fee tags?

just fyi, I was just there and there were about 8 people at camp4, and no one in the kiosk.

Yeah the fee tags……you put on your tent…if you have one.

are the cables up right now? plannig to do snake dike if its possible

RNclimber wrote:are the cables up right now? plannig to do snake dike if its possible

nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/…

The cables are not up, and there is some snow on top of Half Dome

nps.gov/yose/photosmultimed…

Doesn't mean you couldn't do SD, but it certainly complicates it a little.

RNclimber wrote:are the cables up right now? plannig to do snake dike if its possible

It's still Winter, cables are not up. Just clip into the cables with a biner and walk down, bring some leather gloves so you don't trash your hands on the cable.

Highlander wrote: It's still Winter, cables are not up. Just clip into the cables with a biner and walk down, bring some leather gloves so you don't trash your hands on the cable.

Curious..have you actually tried this? Does a biner actually fit around the cable? They're thick enough that I'm not sure ether would. Plus, if they're not up, they'd be laying on the rock and it'd be even more difficult to clip a biner. I'd also think that you'd have to unclip and re-clip every time you passed where the posts connect. If you've done it, great, but if you haven't I'd be surprised if this would actually work.

I've gone down when the cables were down two times. The first was more than 10 years ago. I didn't think it was too bad. The second was more recent and it seemed a lot more slick and polished to me. Still doable, but felt a little scarier to me the 2nd time. Both were when it was perfectly dry. If there were ice/snow/wet and the cables were down, I'd probably just rap.

Did it after climbing the regular route, cables were down, only did on the steeper section. You do have to unclip and reclip, and it would not be worth on where it becomes low angle. Next time I would just bring a good pair of gloves and hand over hand it.

"Curious..have you actually tried this? Does a biner actually fit around the cable? They're thick enough that I'm not sure ether would."

I did the Reg. NW Face early spring last year and they were not up. Friend and I hand over handed it and it was perfectly fine. You could clip in with a sling or something and in case you slide it will catch you after some time. But you shouldn't have any trouble, it is really slabby. I was less scared doing it this way than when I did snake dike and had to come down with 100 scared people on that cable. I was terrified than! Seriously.

Camp 4 way pretty empty yesterday. I wouldn't worry about getting a spot. But they were checking tags atleast once during the day & again around 4AM.

Like stated half dome still has snow on the top.

If you're fit the cables are not an issue. We used two slings with lockers and leap frogged them over the impasses. Stay close together to make the cables easier to hold off the rock. You definitely don't want to fall though because it would hurt a lot and possibly break your back when the sling finally stopped at the next impass.

I would however be concered about how much snow is up there after all that rain we just got (it may be fine, I don't know).

Walking across the snow field on the summit is a little freaky because if somehow you did slip, or the snow gave way, there's a slope to the left and then nothing but air. There was also snow on the slope after the cables when we went, which I guess could be an avalanche hazard, but I don't know anything about snow.

When we did it, someone at camp 4 made the snow sound risky. We took a second rope just in case we had to rap off, but it was fine. It was a bitch to trail that rope, but I imagine it is possible to encounter bad snow conditions up there pre season.

So when I went in March it was easy breezy getting a spot midweek in Camp4. A friend went last monday and said they were in line for a spot by 4am and there was a line forming already. Can I assume it was because of memorial day weekend?

I'm planning on heading to camp 4 next tuesday, ETA by 2-3pm. Should I already count out a spot by then and line up early next morning?