Climbing Half Dome
Zachary Yap
It was a beautiful day at Yosemite with clear skies and birds chirping in the wind. I looked up at Half Dome. It was surprisingly smooth for something its size. It looked massive from the trailhead. As I stood there, I looked ahead. It was a pretty flat trail with a river until a turn where the mountains rose behind it. I knew Vernal Falls was the first major landmark of the trip. I knew we would follow a river to Vernal falls and then to Nevada Falls. After, we would hike to base camp, where we would sleep for the night. Afterward, we would loop around and climb the Sub Dome, the hardest part of the climb. Then we would reach the cables and pull our way up to the top.
"So, Dad,” I asked, “we're going to climb that?" while pointing to the dome.
"Yes," said my dad.
I started getting excited at the prospect of climbing a mountain like that.
We then began the hike to Vernal Falls. The grass was so tall around us. After a bit of hiking, we reached the turn in the path. We could see Vernal Falls from there. We walked a little bit while looking at the falls.
When we reached Vernal Falls, we could barely hear the sound of our voices due to the loud crashing sound of thousands of gallons of water falling every minute.
My dad yelled, "Let's take a snack break over the waterfall." I agreed to this since I was already out of energy because I was seven and was not that strong. We stopped to eat some trail mix and salami. While the food might have been unappetizing, it tasted like heaven to me after walking for multiple hours. While snacking, I admired the waterfall.
Finally, after eating, we started our trek up the fall. There was a stone path with steps to get to the top. Once we reached the top of the waterfall, we started hiking to the next landmark, Nevada Falls. There were plenty of bends along the way, with trees surrounding them. We could see the top of the falls peaking over the trees. We walked until we rounded a bend and saw all of Nevada Falls from the right side. We then took another food break to eat lunch. After that, we started to climb up the steep slope around the side of the waterfall. From there, we could see the peak of Liberty Cap. Once we reached the top of the path, we started walking along the Merced River toward Little Yosemite Valley Camping Grounds.
After a few hours, we reached the campsite. It was just an area of chopped-down trees with stumps over the ground. We started setting the tent up for the night. After we set up the tent, my dad started boiling water for the dehydrated food. After a few minutes, the water was boiling, so we poured the water into the food packets. After this, we started eating food and playing card games. Then we settled down for the night in our sleeping bags and fell asleep.
The next day, I woke up at 6:30 to start the climb up the mountain. After a bit, we reached the most challenging part of the climb, Sub Dome. This part of the climb was so hard because there were a bunch of switchbacks at a steep slope. I remember that this part of the climb had no shade or covering; it was also so hard to climb due to the steepness. We started climbing the dome, and after a bit, we reached the final part of the climb.
The ropes were the only way to scale the actual dome of Half Dome. They are made out of a metal cord that goes through a hole in a metal pole stuck to the ground. For additional grip, there were also wood blocks nailed into the ground. We were wearing gloves to prevent metal splinters. How we climbed the ropes was we had to grip the cord with our hands. Then we pulled ourselves to the next piece of wood to stand on, and repeat that over and over. After a bit of tugging, we reached the top of the dome. I remember a fence across the edge of the dome for safety. While we waited, I signed the book you could sign to show you climbing half dome. I read all the other people's signatures and realized that in the past year, there was no other seven-year-old or younger that had climbed Half Dome. This made me feel proud of myself. I looked over the side of the dome and looked down hundreds of feet to the ground at Mirror Lake.
This event taught me that persevering through obstacles can help me grow. This has changed me because I now really enjoy climbing.
