Saying the number of accidents on "Half Dome is head and shoulders above the rest" without actually quantifying the number of accidents against the number of hikers who go is "putting a spin" on the facts.
Bob West & Bob R, this one is for you: How many deaths/accidents per capita are "acceptable"? Say, 500 people a day go up Half Dome, but "only" 8 a year die & 20 are rescued -- are those "good" numbers based on the ratio of hikers to incidents? (My answer is that the decision to cut the numbers/install permits was to cut down on the deaths/rescues, period.)
It is reasonable to post warnings and educate people. But to make it a crime to actually go???
It seems that the "warnings & education" did not help those folks back in June 2009, who insisted on entering the cables 1. After the 2:00pm "warned" cut off time 2. After the first drops of rain fell 3. After the hail began 4. After the snow began to fall 4. After the traffic going up ceased to move... It was really unreasonabe when two helicopters spent the next 8 hours plucking those very same "reasonably warned" individuals off the dome. I know, because my friends and I were camped out on Mt Watkins watching the whole drama unfold.
There are a lot of things that seem reasonably warned at the onset: Wear your seatbelts, Don't text while driving, Don't cluster the cables at any time -- especially during a storm.....but it seems that because some folks insist on being unreasonable, the "cost" (in the cases of car crashes, death...clustering the dome has had similar results) have to be mitigated by mandatory regulation.
Half Dome is one of America's iconic locations and hikes. They even put it on a coin!
It's sweet of them to do that & further up the popularity of the place, but it does not make all of the problems magically disappear.
PS I think that there are still a few hold-outs whining & sniveling about having to wear seatbelts, too.
