I understand the limits completely and fully support them.
Fewer injuries on that hike mean fewer taxpayer dollars spent rescuing fools and unfortunates from it. And fewer deaths. The real death toll for Half Dome is much higher if you include all the people who died on the trail heading for it. 70+ people dead, a dozen per day injured, all because people think this is something they NEED to do. The permits have cut the daily injury rate down significantly.
The sense of entitlement surrounding the cables flabbergasts me. I would not be surprised if the park ends up ripping them off the dome. They were *never* intended to be a tourist trap drawing thousands and thousands of out-of-shape people in for the "kill." Let people hire a guide if they don't want to learn how to climb to do it without cables. The ridiculous amount of damage done to the area around the trail and the top of the dome (we will likely never see a tree on top again) plus the incredible number of SAR and medical interventions (try listening to the radio traffic sometime! OMG.) are enough for me to look at the cables as an attractive nuisance.
That entire area is so trashed and ridden with problem bears and tourists I go out of my way to start from other trailheads if at all possible to head to other destinations in the park. It's not fun to me at all to hike up wincing all the way as I pass people limping in high heels, flipflops, under 100 lb packs, no water, heat stroke symptoms, crawling, lost, or on the verge of breaking up with the spouse who's marching determinedly ahead of them as they plead to turn around.
Viva la permit system!
