Hiker dies on the cable route Half Dome

The cables can be a little sketchy unfortunately this can be fatal.

​https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/09/07/hiker-killed-after-falling-feet-half-dome-cables-yosemite/?noredirect=on​​​

If only you had posted the news article that called the Hiker a "Climber"

Yes Gumby King it's true Climbers get blamed for the deaths of Hikers and scramblers all the time.  ANAM has a lot of them listed as climbing accidents.  However I'm sure you know this is a route used for the walk off by a lot climbers.

I recall going down the cables (backwards) with full pack after climbing RNWF and gaining a bit of respect for the hikers (really tourists) who hoof it up there.  Glad I had gloves.  It's a long hike up (and back) and many of the tourists are just not prepared for the hike or exposure.  

There is a witness account that was posted on https://snowbrains.com/eyewitness-account-half-dome-death/ :

The girl wasn’t on the outside of the cables. She was at least 30’ above us. We heard a commotion, she was starting to freak out. It had started to lightly sprinkle. She had decided to turn around before making it to the top, her group of 3-4 continued on. I saw her shoes slipping on the rock. It wasn’t that wet yet but maybe she had a poorly chosen pair of shoes. Regardless, I watched as her shoes slipped on the rock, she fell hard and lost her grip on cable. Someone had said she was even using a carabiner but it obviously wasn’t clipped in at that moment. She started sliding down and to the right of the cables. My friend got down on her stomach to try and grab her….she went by her and I stretched out and tried to reach for her with my right hand but by now she was probably 10’ to the right of the cables and too far for me also. She slid past screaming and she went over an edge. She fell about 500’ and you could see her from the top of sub dome. Everyone was evacuated from the cables and subdome so the helicopter could fly in.

That is just awful.  I am amazed it doesn't happen more often, though.  

Honestly I was way more sketched coming down the cables than I was during our actual climb.  The park service had already dismantled most of the poles and planks for the cables at that time.  We left our climbing shoes and harnesses on for our walk off.  We clipped in with extended draws and it kept our attention to say the least.  I was surprised at how steep it actually was.  So yep if you fall you are done.

You'd think some sort of granite retexturing effort would be made. 5' to the side the granite is perfectly grippy.

The park service should remove this attractive nuisance and leave anchors for rappelling. That was done in the  early ‘70s on Longs Peak. 

Hey George - Remove the cables or make it into a proper via-feratta. 

Allen Sanderson wrote: Hey George - Remove the cables or make it into a proper via-feratta. 

If the NW Face or El Cap had vias, I’d do ‘em! 

Allen Sanderson wrote: Hey George - Remove the cables or make it into a proper via-feratta. 

Gross. 

chop ‘em 

George Bracksieck wrote: The park service should remove this attractive nuisance and leave anchors for rappelling. That was done in the  early ‘70s on Longs Peak. 

Are you referring to the cable eyes on the cable route?

zeb wrote:

Are you referring to the cable eyes on the cable route?

I have rappelled from something like a series of a few pipes, each of which stuck up about a foot and which previously anchored the cables. 

Tie two burly prussiks you don't care to lose for each rappel on the cables when they are down. Could save a life or two if you are sketched.