It always surprises me when someone dies while ascending or descending the infamous rope section of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

I’m not surprised it happened. I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often.

By 21st century standards, the cables, steel posts and wooden planks that hikers use to climb up and down the final 120 metres of polished granite are dangerous – even unbelievably so in wet weather. And considering that tens of thousands attempt the climb every year, most with little climbing experience, the fact that “only” 10 people have died from falls from the cables since 1948 is nothing short of a stroke of luck.

This sobering statistic is no consolation to Jonathan Rohloff, who watched his 20-year-old daughter, Grace Rohloff, slide past him to her death on July 13 as they descended the ropes together. (At the summit, the pair were caught in a sudden storm. Most fatal falls on Half Dome occur in rainy weather.)

Opinion

Rohloff was the first fatality on the cable car since 2019. Each time, questions are raised about safety and what the park service could or should do to better protect and warn visitors.

Jonathan Rohloff is currently asking himself these questions. In several interviews with major Californian media outlets, Rohloff called on the park administration to install additional metal posts and wooden boards on the route to give hikers more options for holding on to the steep slope.

“What happened to Grace doesn’t have to happen to anyone else,” Rohloff told the Los Angeles Times. “You can put a system on the cables to make them much safer. Grace would want that.”

In that interview, Rohloff said he told park rangers his daughter died “because the cables are unnecessarily dangerous,” but he had not received any feedback on planned improvements. Park officials also declined to comment when contacted by reporters.

“The silence was deafening,” said Rohloff.

I’ve written about the Half Dome cables quite a bit in the past (and experienced them myself), and when the permits were being reviewed in 2010, I suggested adding a third line of cables to create separate “lanes” up and down as a solution to the overcrowding.

Two years later, Congressman Tom McClintock proposed the exact same thing in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior. However, Yosemite National Park officials refused to even consider that option – or any other improvements to the cables – because such projects would constitute “improvement” to the wilderness. And that’s a big no-no.

What really is wilderness?

Ninety-five percent of Yosemite National Park (including the trails to Half Dome) is a federally designated wilderness area, meaning it is managed by the park service under the Wilderness Act of 1964.

Without going into too much detail, wilderness areas are defined as places that retain their original character and where “the imprint of human activity is essentially imperceptible.”

So technically the cables themselves are in violation of the regulations. They were certainly not created by Mother Nature. And as evidenced by the long scratch mark on the east side of Half Dome, visible from Olmsted Point or in aerial photographs, the prints of millions of hiking boots are indeed clearly visible.

However, since the cables were laid by the Sierra Club in 1920 – decades before the Wilderness Act came into force – they are considered to be protected.

This is the logic that Yosemite National Park officials used to try to explain why the cables are so shaky and cannot be improved. At least back then, when they were more willing to answer questions from curious reporters.

To counter this, the park authorities have built a ranger station and a permanent restroom in Little Yosemite Valley on the way to Half Dome, which is also a wilderness area. These are “improvements” that change the character of the land far more than drilling a few more holes in the rock to add additional supports.

Such arguments have fallen on deaf ears and continue to do so.

The park service posts extensive information online about how to safely climb Half Dome, including tips for minimizing risks on the ropes. (The best advice is knowing when to turn back.) Permit holders undergo safety training, and a ranger is stationed at the subdome to inspect permits and advise on conditions.

Mountains can never be made completely safe, especially ones made of polished granite and steeper than a staircase. But aside from bureaucratic obstinacy, there is no real reason why the Half Dome cables have to be so dangerous. It’s a wonder more people haven’t died.