Wagga,
Oh I have a sick sense of humor and your term made me laugh out loud, but the topic is important to me because Half Dome is important. Over the years I have grilled the Yosemite Rangers with every viable solution that has ever been suggested to the point they would act occupied when they saw me coming. But there is no perfect answer to this debate. My absolute true preference is that they would take the cables down, fill in the holes to match the slick granite. Then I want permanent climbing bolts drilled in at the perfect interval to match my height 5.5' because every climb done on point is protected for the average guy, not a woman. And Half Dome would be on the front cover for every climbing guide as the best 5* 5.3 climb in the world. A few wouldn't do it because of the difficult approach or the weather...
But on the other hand....
I have also seen the joy and the transformation of people's faces including children, with that look of utter exhaustion mixed with complete delight due to that first view of the valley.
Half Dome is an incredible sliced off hunk of glaciated rock.
But I don't believe the park service will ever pull the cables and fix it to my specs. So I vote for the 300 people permit option. Possibly I missed some postings but why would everyone go as a giant clump at the same time? Some hikers run,walk,do the poky or barely succeed (sometimes me) especially on a difficult trail, many people do quit and turn around. I didn't quite understand the mention of a start time or is it just the Kitty Litter Clump Thing.
Please inform, I must have missed something.
