Yosemite Visitors Perpetuate the Tradition of Ascending Half Dome By Mark Grossi The Fresno Bee - July 12, 1999 YOSEMITE - A smiling Bill Kennington dangles his legs above a sheer, 4,800-foot drop at the edge of Half Dome and prays to hear the click. "I'm positively terrified," Kennington, 30, of San Diego says between clenched teeth as a fellow Half Dome climber takes his photograph. "Take the shot." Half Dome, Yosemite National Park's granite icon, often inspires people to discover and conquer fears they never knew they had - like vertigo. Thousands of ordinary people, not mountain climbers, walk and climb up the back of this 8,842-foot-tall dome each year in an 80-year-old ritual that defies fears of all shapes and sizes. People must brave steep trails, crowds, exhaustion, mosquitos and, of course, the 17-mile round-trip hike from Happy Isles at the 4,000-foot-elevation in Yosemite Valley. This year is no different. The crowds attempting the climb are unfazed by - or didn't know about - the killer rock slide that hit Yosemite Valley in June. Tons of rock fell 2,000 feet into the valley, several miles west of Half Dome, killing a visitor from Colorado. Hikers say they will risk rock fall on the park's busiest trail to reach the top of Half Dome. Why? Many are fascinated by its geologic history; some are interested in Yosemite's place at the heart of glacial theory among scientists worldwide. But mostly, they're here for the thrill. "It is a little unnerving at first," said Gordana Nekovic, 31, a Serbian touring the United States. "But once you concentrate on climbing with the cables, you forget you are on a vertical cliff." The curved back side of Half Dome is not exactly a cliff, but the granite does appear almost vertical for about 50 yards. Climbers hold two cables, an arms-width apart, and walk a few hundred yards at a dramatic angle to the top. The cables are attached to rods drilled securely into the rock. Wooden footrests are placed every 10 feet so visitors can stop frequently. Park officials say the cables are well-maintained and nobody has died using them. Eleven-year-old children and people in their 60s ascend Half Dome using the cables. "I made it, but I wish I was in a little better shape," said Shannon Kelly, 44, of Napa, when he reached the top. "It's something I've wanted to do. It's a challenge, a goal." Kevin and Joni Sumter, both 26, of Clovis sat at the base of Half Dome for several minutes, eating lunch and working through momentary jitters. "We come here every summer," said Joni, a science teacher at Clovis High School. "We decided to do it this year. So, we're just going to do it. I guess." They moved up the cables. Behind them, a plump marmot chewed on a piece of the sandwich they left behind. In addition to being in shape and able to conquer a case of nerves, hikers must be on the lookout for thieving wildlife. The marmots at Half Dome are fearless, voracious - and everywhere. Theresa Bitondo, 48, of San Diego said she had never seen the bushy rodents until her first ascent of Half Dome. She and her husband, Paul, 46, have climbed the dome seven times since, but she can't forget that first encounter. "I remember getting up on the cables near the top and this fuzzy-looking beaver looked over the side at me," Theresa said. "I started screaming. People down below started yelling that it was a just a marmot. No big deal. I was scared. I guess it's just part of learning what this place is all about." There are many more natural lessons to learn about Half Dome. The geology alone gives the climb special meaning. The Half Dome chunk of rock - specifically called granodiorite - formed as hot rock below the Earth's surface 87 million years ago. If it had risen to the surface in its molten form, it might have been a volcano. But it cooled below the surface, crystallized and became granite. Other forces within the Earth slowly pushed it to the surface along with the rest of the Sierra Nevada. This took millions of years. In the past 2 million years, the rock has become rounded with weathering, erosion and other natural processes that caused parts of it to peel away in rounded layers like an onion. Many granite domes can be found in the Sierra. So, when and why did this dome lose half of its face? It probably happened in the past 70,000 years, geologists say. Kathy Ferrier, a Yosemite ranger who has a geology degree, said a passing glacier knocked out part of the bottom of the mountain or footing below the dome. A series of small slides created the flat face now seen on postcards, T-shirts and coffee mugs around the world. "It is very unlikely that all the rock just came down at once," she said. "The dome broke cleanly along vertical fracture lines. It lost about 20% of the dome, not half." Glacial theorists around the globe have argued about this and other Yosemite rock for the past 130 years, making the park a major focal point for geologists. But while they argue, others climb. The first recorded attempt and failure occurred in 1859. George G. Anderson made a successful ascent of Half Dome in October 1875, according to the book "The Yosemite Grant: 1864-1906, a Pictorial History" by Hank Johnston. Sally Dutcher, the first woman to climb Half Dome, did it just days after Anderson, historians say. And, the story goes, she was wearing a long dress. In those days, climbing was done with ropes. In 1919, the Sierra Club installed steel cables, which have been replaced twice this century. They stay on the rock year-round. In spring, the National Park Service raises them a few feet off the rock onto posts so people can use them for support while walking up. In fall, when the weather turns cold, the park service lowers them to the rock face. The cables are considered the safest way to walk up the dome, but climbers still must be cautious, Yosemite officials say. "The danger is pretty obvious when you see the cables," said Yosemite spokesman and ranger Kendell Thompson. "We haven't had a fatality from people simply climbing the cables because they take it slowly and carefully." One close call came a few years ago when someone had an apparent heart attack halfway up the cables. The climber was crumpled around one of the support posts until a rescue team arrived. Thunderstorms are the real danger on Half Dome. They are common in the high Sierra in July and especially August. Signs on the Half Dome Trail warn hikers to go back down the trail if thunder clouds are anywhere on the horizon. When thunderstorms are coming into the park, a ranger will close down the Half Dome Trail. "We've had people struck by lightning on Half Dome," said Thompson. "Think about it. You're out there on an open granite face, holding this long lightning rod - a steel cable several hundred yards long." Another concern - less lethal than lightning but still dangerous - is bears. Many hikers encounter them in Little Yosemite Valley, where they opt to camp halfway up instead of making the grueling trip in one day. The backcountry campground is a favorite haunt for black bears that rummage for food at night. One recent evening, a growling bear charged through a campground after campers startled it. No one was injured or threatened, but the episode jangled nerves and led to a sleepless night for many of them. "I've never heard a bear make that kind of noise," said hiker Kennington, the San Diego resident who posed for a photograph with his feet dangling off Half Dome. Kennington, who had just begun the 200-mile-plus walk on the John Muir Trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney, canceled the rest of his hike after spending a night at Little Yosemite Valley. Aside from the bear, squirrels slipped into his camp site and nibbled a hole in his new backpack. He sewed it shut, only to have the squirrels return and chew a bigger one. But he decided to stop his Muir trail hike when he reached the top of Half Dome, a slight detour from the Muir trail, and had a brief conversation with Pat Brown, 24, a Boston resident who had recently hiked a part of the Muir trail. Brown told him great clouds of mosquitos had followed him at Tuolumne Meadows along the long trail. "That's all I needed to hear," said Kennington, carefully backing away from the Half Dome face. "This is good enough. This is as far as I want to go."