Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Half Dome with Cables Down

I spent last weekend in Yosemite. On Thursday, my friend and I walked the Panorama trail, which was a first for me. Wagga, here is my pic of the junction just before Illouette Falls.


Yosemite 2012 033 by Northern Explorers1, on Flickr

Thanks for the tip. What a great lookout. Someone told me later about another lookout place that was different from this. Next time I hike it, I'll find it. One of my favorite sites was a grouping of 7 snow flowers all together. I captured the sun coming through these buds.


Yosemite 2012 052 by Northern Explorers1, on Flickr


Day 2 was a trip up Half Dome via the mist trail. The trail to Half Dome was almost completely empty. I don't think I will ever do Half Dome during the regular season again. When the cables are down, they are still there, just not propped up on poles. That factor seems to keep most people away and so the hike is far more enjoyable.

I blended the two sets of pics into this vimeo video.

http://vimeo.com/42597724






Another glorious day in the mountains.

Brent

Awesome video! I did Half Dome on Friday too! What a glorious day for a trip up half dome. I'm sure I passed you on the way or even spoke to you. We got a late start though, I arrived at the summit around 4pm.

Thanks, EJ. This is really the right time to go. I hope we did run into each other. Glad to hear you guys made up to the top too.

Brent

That was great, Brent! One of my favorite songs, too!

I really do need to hit that Panorama Trail, as I think it's one of the last established trails in the Valley I haven't hiked yet! Maybe this October when I'm there w/ my mom and pop.

Looks like a great trip!

-L

You live that song, Laura. You will enjoy that trail. You won't see any waterfalls by then, but I'll bet the fall colors will explode from that vista. I hiked the panorama trail with a buddy who isn't in great shape. It isn't too hard on the lungs because all except for about 700 vertical feet after the creek, it is all downhill, but downhill hikes can be kind of tough on old joints. Taking the JMT down after Nevada Falls can help that. Hopefully mom and pop can enjoy it with you.

Brent

I might try to convince them to join me, at least for the first part from Glacier Point. But Pop's knee and mom's depth perception leave quite a bit to be desired. Definitely on the docket to get mom up Sentinal Dome this fall, though!

Thinking about Half dome for next year. How hard is it without cables?

The cables are there all year long, but when they are "down," they are not up on poles. They are every bit as anchored as when they are up on poles. You pick them up and hold on. I think it is easier when they are down for a couple of reasons. First, you are not sharing the cables with a hundred other people going up, down and freezing up. Second, you can move the cables slightly over so that you are on rougher granite. Third, you don't have to get a permit. My first time going up, there were probably 300 people on the cables at once and someone in the middle was having a panic attack. Virtually all traffic stopped and I hung onto the cables for three hours. It was excruciating. Give me the cables down every time. Proceed at your own risk, but I'll take the off season climb every time.

Brent

Excellent video Brent - enjoyed it!

I like the video.I can't figure out how to pan left to right, right to left, top to bottom or bottom to top on a still image. I figured out how to zoom in and out by changing the property values of different key frames so am limited to zooms on my still frames. I found some "presets" on my editing effects (Adobe Elements) but it seems to just slide the image across the viewing area showing black bars on each side. Can anyone help?

Hi, Frank. I used iMovie on my ipad. I'm new to the ipad and am still figuring things out, but the apps tend to make projects like this very simple and intuitive. It's algorithm causes panning automatically, but often times you want the panning to go in a different direction and it gives you the ability to pinch and swipe in exactly the way you want it to go.

Brent N