Trisha and I have been confirmed to climb Half Dome again this year on September 18. We’ll start at 4:00am in Yosemite Valley, hike up the John Muir Trail, cross the falls at the top and make our way to the peak. We should be at the cables by 11:00am, summit by noon, and be back down in the Valley by 7:00pm. It will be a long, strenuous 15-hour day. We’ll be using harnesses on the cables this time.
And the training starts … NOW.
I am a hiker and a climber. I am comfortable with my skills and I know my limitations. I know how to navigate, schedule my strength, time my outings, and pace my progress. I have done it for decades.
But I have always been worried about getting bitten by a rattlesnake. Climbing is dangerous when you reach up for a ledge over which you can’t yet see. You really don’t know if you’re going to face a snake there at any time. Every step over every rock or log can be the mistake of a lifetime. Such are the risks we take.
Here is the account of Justin Schwartz, who was bitten by a rattlesnake in 2002 when he was 13 years old. Click on the link on the bottom of his page for this pictures.
WARNING: These pictures are extremely graphic. If you cannot deal with very graphic medical “gore” you might opt to forego the pictures.
After a reader’s very helpful comments on my first post on the attempts of climbing Indianhead (thank you Charity), and after my trials in take two, I went out last Sunday to check out the suggested route.
The approach starts directly at mile 1.0 from the parking lot, about half a mile before reaching the first palm grove. The route leads straight up the mountain along a white gully.
I didn’t go very far. There is no cell phone reception. This makes at least one climbing buddy critical. Two would be better. The terrain is very difficult. There is no trail, and there are many opportunities to hurt ankles or much worse.
Just to give you a feel for what it’s like, here is a shot looking up to where I am going. The camera is pointed upwards. It’s very difficult to get a sense of scale. The ocotillo plants on the right are about twice the height of a man.
As always, click on the images to enlarge.
Looking back to where I came from, pointing the camera down, I had this view:
The scale of the terrain is difficult to show in pictures when there is no human being to photograph. So I did you a favor and drew myself into the picture in front of the boulder, just so you get a sense of the size of things:
Here is the funny thing:
Today, late morning, the office shook from the sharp jolt of a non-minor earthquake. I remember thinking that I didn’t want to be right there during an earthquake. It turns out, the earthquake happened 24 hours after I was there and it was centered in Anza, right where I was. I guess I just missed it.
I am now looking forward to January 2014 – hopefully time to bag Indianhead once and for all.
Hiking Mt. Woodson on Monday, I could not resist posing on top of the famous Potato Chip Rock at the peak.
Here is a really, really crazy guy. He died in 1998, at age 35. After you watch this, you won’t wonder why.