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David Lee Roth & El Cap

Our Hamburg office has found an archival music video by David Lee Roth (of Van Halen fame) with climbers on El Cap and the Washington Column. The song is “Just like Paradiise.”

Enjoy.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Just do it.” -Nike 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome…

Half Dome lottery update March 2

Ladies and Gentlemen – Boys and girls of all ages –>

After 2 days of the Half Dome lottery application process – the rec.gov site seemed to be working just fine. Records show that about 4500 people submitted applications. The bulk were requesting Saturdays. So your odds are way better mid-week.

Also, don’t over buy – if the HAL-9000 computer picks you for a “win,” and you are asking for 6 permits and they only have 5 left – you will NOT get one.

For the youth in the audience – “G2″ is a Cold War term for intelligence – did you read about the Cold War in school? That was when Russia and the US were going to annihilate each other.

And the HAL-9000 was the “smart” computer from the movie 2001, a Space Odyssey that came out last century. It was very good – despite the odd ending. Rent it.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Traveling in a fried-out combie on a hippie trail, head full of zombie I met a strange lady. Sshe made me nervous. She took me in and gave me breakfast . And she said, ‘Do you come from a land down under? Where women …

100th Anniversary of John Muir’s “The Yosemite”

Today we feature a guest blog by Maureen L. of Oakland. Anyone can guest blog here about your passion, just send me an email – MrHalfDome@gmail.com

“2012 is the 100th anniversary of the publication of John Muir’s The Yosemite. This book is a great way to get to know Muir, and to get to know the Park. Muir writes about his hikes, the Park in winter, glaciers and the geology of the park, the plants and the trees, the birds, and some wonderful folks he knew and hiked with, Galen Clark and James C. Lamont.

The flowery meadows Muir talks about on his hike across to Yosemite from the Coast in My First Summer in the Sierra are gone. But almost 150 years later, we can enjoy most of what Muir enjoyed in Yosemite thanks to his efforts.

So I’m celebrating this anniversary, and Muir, by hiking in his footsteps.

Chapter 10, “The South Dome” recounts Muir’s ascent of Half Dome using George Anderson’s rope on November 10, 1875. As Muir says, this was “a month or two after Anderson had gained the summit.” Anderson tried to dissuade Muir, as it had already snowed, but up he went. Some things …

Half Dome cables update 2/17/2012

The webinar summary by NPS from last week is not completed yet, but there were over 60 people on-line. They will be answering the remaining questions in writing and sending a complete report to all registered participants as well as posting the webinar Q and A on the Half Dome EA page. I’ll provide it here.

The head ranger managing the cables is the Wilderness Manager, Ranger Ed Dunlavey.

Ed’s a great guy and has been a big help in interpreting the new procedure. He was on the webinar and will be contributing to the Q&A. Only 3 months until the first group can go up in 2012. Time to get serious about getting back in shape if you gorged on Oreos all winter.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Hooray I awake from yesterday; alive but the war is here to stay. So my love, Catherina and me decide to take our last walk, through the noise to the sea. Not to die but to be re-born. Away from a life so battered and torn.” – 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) – Jimi Hendrix 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half …

Cables lottery article

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/01/25/2205883/half-dome-hikers-need-to-win-permit.html

JOSHUA EMERSON SMITH is the reporter. I’ve talked with him and he is picking up the Half Dome cables as a focus. This is good. Other papers are picking up his article. Also look for an AP article coming out by Monday on the cables, 2012 process and the Stewardship Plan.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Who wants yesterday’s papers? Who wants yesterday’s girl? Who wants yesterday’s papers? Nobody in the world.” - Rolling Stones

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome…

Half Dome bungee jump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VAupx-9jRU

And don’t throw Frisbees off it either.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “I fought the law and the law won.” – Bobby Fuller Four  and “It ain’t me babe.” – Sonny & Cher 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome…

Snowback is grim

The California Department of Water Resources snowpack survey showed the average Sierra mountains are at 19 percent of average for this date. Good time to drive over to Tioga Pass. After the morning chill it should be decent hiking. No precip sighted for many moons. Gosh, Global Warming? Say it isn’t so!

Does this remind you of the splotch on the face of Half Dome from yesterday? This was NOT taken at Yosemite. BASE jumping is not permitted. But since when did rules stop anyone? The valley walls are only 3,000 ft up – not a whole like to air to sail down. Seems most of this “sport” is done in Scandinavia where laws are a lot looser.

I’ll be out for 2 weeks – getting a free cruise to Caribb/Canal by giving talks. Entries may be spotty as Internet is $$$$. If I hear anything about the cables permits I’ll post it.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “If you ever plan to motor west, travel my way, take the highway that is best. Get your kicks on route 66.” – Nat King Cole 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome

 …

Last Half Dome blog for 2011

Hello America!

Here I sit waiting for the ball to drop. A really silly thing to do – watching what happened 3 hours ago in New York City.  I actually went to Times Square when I was in college at the U. of Maryland. (Last Century) 3 of us had no dates (a common occurrence) and we drove the 3+ hours with no plans. We got on the subway and headed north. I knew I’d get mugged, so I hid my money in my socks.

We arrived at the Sq at about 10:30 pm and no one was there, so we found a bar and waited. It was not until about 11:20 that the place filled up – people came out of the cracks in the pavement.  At midnight we all looked for ladies to kiss. By 12:30 the place was empty. Really. A LOT difference today.

So what did we do? No room, so we started to walk back heading to eventually get our car at the Staten Island Ferry and head home. But about 6 blocks later we passed a hotel and heard college kids yelling. We counted what room it might be and headed up. A real …

Electrolytes

Since we’re talking about water – let’s discuss what you should put in your water. It takes about four to six hours for your body to deplete its reserves of minerals and electrolytes, so this is one hike for which you should ingest some sort of energy product. Your body needs things like sodium, calcium, potassium, chlorine and magnesium to keep the furnace burning. You get all these from your normal diet, but on an extended endurance event, you may use up your stores. Dehydration will ruin your day. You may “hit the wall,” have poor judgment and be unable to continue the hike.  A good tasting fluid will encourage you to drink more often. Dehydration impairs human performance whenever your body fluid level falls below 98% of normal.

The main cause of dehydration is fluid loss through sweating. Sweating is a good process, since it releases heat generated by working muscles to the air. It is the body’s cooling mechanism.  It’s been known for decades that the performance of athletes is hampered by a loss of fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates. Dehydration strains the cardiovascular system by reducing blood volume. For every liter of fluid lost during prolonged exercise, body …

Mechanical water treatment

Continuing the focus on water, a really good quality mechanical water treatment pump makes filtering easy, and they are not very expensive. The three types of mechanical devices to treat water, their effectiveness and Micron rating are:

1. Filter – Removes Giardia, large protozoa and some bacteria. (1.0 – 4.0 micron)
2. Microfilter – Removes microorganisms, including protozoa & bacteria. (.3 – 1.0 micron)
3. Purifier – Removes microorganisms, including viruses. (< .018 micron)

Read the box carefully. The nomenclature can be confusing. The street name for these devices is “water filter.” However, as you can see above, the technical name implies distinct capabilities. Filters can remove bacteria and protozoan cysts. Purifiers can do this and remove viruses. In most American and western Europe water sources, viruses are not present. The US EPA requires that a device labeled as a “purifier” remove viruses (with a rigorous EPA documentation proceedure). Be sure to read the literature to make sure if Giardia, Cryptosporidium and other microscopic pathogens (disease-causing agents) will be removed. Giardia will be your biggest concern at Yosemite. A 0.3-micron pore size or less is regarded as the optimum. The sales staff at your outfitter can help you sort this out. There are many …