Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Fatal Fall from Half Dome cables

Rick, I think all those problems would be relieved if there were some kinda of prerequisite with a ranger or checking authority. Basically if they see someone isn't strapped into their harness right or can't show how to properly lead or the gear isn't right then they don't go up, plain and simple. Yeah its gonna slow things down or you may have to check in at the beginning of the hike but if it saves one life....
We have all these rules for 6 flags, how is that a 60' drop is any different from a 400' drop except theres nobody checking your seatbelt here? I'm thinkin that if they are going to set rules for industry, govt needs to follow em just the same cause you know they'll fine the crap out of 6 flags if somethin like this happened there and nothin will become of this more then likely here. The people you get at these things need to be weeded out and letting them do it is the wrong approach. Thats why you need some sort of prereq check. If there could be an effiecient way of this... Like you said though, there would be modifications needed to the cables for these systems to work properly even. Its a total catch 22.

Very huge difference, 6 Flags isn't a wilderness area

Yeah, but it is an attraction, just as this is. You still get a TON of people and someone needs to be checkin.... That was kind of an extreme example, I wasn't meaning it as theme park but that someone needs to be over-seeing things. Like in construction, we check the safety systems daily, I'm kind of doubting Yosemite has this same approach....

Hmmmmm.

Shouldn't helmets be required too? I'll bet the poor fellow who died probably didn't die from broken limbs but rather from severe head injury. In this case a helmet may have made the difference between life and death.

Least out here its req'd, I actually did see people going up Sat with tie-ins and helmets.... Though if the catches for the clips are set up right your just gonna end up on your butt, lol. And if you need a pad for that.... GET OFF THE CABLES!! Haha.

only "real" solution is to REMOVE THE CABLES.

now let's see how many attempt it!

Harvey

EXACTLY!!!!!!!! Leave it to the people who have the gear and experience!!!!!!!

Really, when your draggin your 5 y.o. up to that point and then tying a rope around his waist and goin up, are these the people that should be climbing this?!?!?! Somebody needs to step in and say no somewhere!