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Amazingly, we all managed to get up at 3:30 AM & were on trail by 4:30. The parking lot is a ways from the actual trailhead, so we only got to the official Happy Isles Trailhead by about 5. It turns out we didn’t really need out headlamps, with the moon being almost full. It quickly brightened however, with dawn breaking around 6 in the morning. By this time we had just gotten to the top of Vernal Falls. The trail to the top of half dome ascends Vernal, then Nevada Falls before reaching an alpine meadow from which the switchback-laden ascent to the Subdome starts.

Gops looked like he was having some trouble so I took his pack near the top of Nevada Falls. The views all the way up were phenomenal. Yosemite is like heaven on earth to outdoor enthusiasts – despite having come here many times, the charm never seems to diminish!

We took our time on the switchbacks & got up to the base of the Subdome around 11. From here it was more exposed switchbacks to the base of the cables. Unfortunately most of the crew decided to bail here after taking a look at the cables, leaving only the manly men(Rushi & myself) to make the final ascent. That said, I was definitely scared the first time I climbed the Dome over a decade ago. They look scarier than they are, and the final part of the ascent was pretty easy, though we got stuck in a few traffic jams up the cables. Even limiting the permits to 250 a day, there’s quite a bit of congestion on this last stretch.

The view at the summit was of course glorious. As a photographer, I’d have loved it if we could have been up there at dawn, but it was still an impressive sight.

After having PB&J on the summit, Rushi & I headed down. We’d somehow managed to spend an entire hour up there & the guys were waiting below. It was another traffic jam on the way down, but this time I decided not to wait & ducked to the outside of the cables, descending quickly. Holding two cables doesn’t really give you any more support so I feel like this is how everyone should descend, but I guess it gives you a (false) sense of added security. Rushi chickened out though & came down the slow way, so we must regrettably demote him to “semi-manly man” status.

After meeting up with the guys, we started our descent. It was now around 1:45 PM so we were definitely behind schedule. My flight was early the next morning so I wanted to get down as quickly as possible. As such we broke into two groups with Kipta, Gops & myself leading & Rushi & Nirav following behind due to Rushi’s knee issues. Turns out it wasn’t really necessary as they caught up with us at the base of Vernal Falls. We managed to make it down to the parking lot at around 6:30, taking much longer than I’d anticipated on the way down.

This was a great climb & thanks to Rushi for getting those permits! He’s been trying for years since the demand’s so high. PME’s next big climb is Russia’s Mount Elbrus in 2016. Rushi & I will need to get into top shape for that, as it’s a glaciated ascent on rope teams the whole way up. Until next time, Rock On!