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Off snake dike, down cables, then down death slabs?

Original Post
Ryan Arnold · · SLC · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 751

If we have sunlight, is it reasonable to descend Half Dome after Snake Dike via the death slabs? We are interested in checking out the start of the regular route. Is the slabs descent ok after all the rockfall?

Highlander · · Ouray, CO · Joined Apr 2008 · Points: 256

There is a reason they are called the death slabs, major rock fall zone. Since there has been a lot of rock fall activity this year, why put yourself in that position if you don't have to be.

Tyson Anderson · · SLC, UT · Joined May 2007 · Points: 126

I wouldn't. They are steep in places and would require downclimbing...potentially in the dark if you are doing it after snake dike. If you want to check out the base of the RNWF then you could walk around to the base after the cables descent and then back up to the normal descent. It would only add 45 min - 1hr of hiking. We did this to retrieve gear we left at the base.

SRB25 · · Woodside, ca · Joined Nov 2014 · Points: 5

I heard the DS fixed lines are gone as well.

csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330
Tyson Anderson wrote:I wouldn't. They are steep in places and would require downclimbing...potentially in the dark if you are doing it after snake dike. If you want to check out the base of the RNWF then you could walk around to the base after the cables descent and then back up to the normal descent. It would only add 45 min - 1hr of hiking. We did this to retrieve gear we left at the base.
Current rockfall situation aside, if the fixed lines are there, it is perfectly reasonable to go down the death slabs. Although as said above, I'm not sure if the fixed lines are currently there.
Marc801 C · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65
csproul wrote: Current rockfall situation aside, if the fixed lines are there, it is perfectly reasonable to go down the death slabs. Although as said above, I'm not sure if the fixed lines are currently there.
Is it reasonable if the party has never been up the slabs? (We don't know that from the OP but it's a logical question.)
csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330
Marc801 wrote: Is it reasonable if the party has never been up the slabs? (We don't know that from the OP but it's a logical question.)
I'd guess that it'd be no harder to find your way down them than to find your way up them. I thought it was pretty obvious, but I wasn't trying to find my way after having done a climb and potentially with the sun setting. If you don't get lost, it is faster to go down the slabs than to hike the JMT all the way back. Of course it is virtually impossible to get lost going down the trail, while the DS...
mmatera · · Newport Beach, CA · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 0

Ryan, did you end up going down the death slabs? Are the fixed lines still up?

Ryan Arnold · · SLC · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 751

We got scared off by the above posts, and hiked the normal way. It only took us 3 hours to hike down so I doubt we would have saved time on the death slabs, but I'm sad we didn't get to check them out. Next trip maybe.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northern California
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