half dome cable descent

I haven't been able to find an answer to this on the web or dejanews - I plan on doing Snake Dike next week, probably after the cables are 'down'. I've heard you can still descend them since they just take out the steps or something; Is that true? Any helpful info (e.g. will raps be necessary?)

Thanks,

When the cables are down, it means that they are leaning flat against the rock. You can easily go down using them, but you could need to rap if it is icy.

Cheers, Marc-André Giasson Charlesbourg, Qc

One of my (mildly insane and probably of mutant genetic stock) climbing partners was hiking through Yos and decided to cruise up to Half Dome. He was a bit put off by the line of tourists at the base of the cables, so he just walked right up past 'em on the outside of the cables without using them. Got a few strange looks, but he's used to that.

If you use the cable as a handhold, watch carefully for burrs in the cable. Ouch!

You may want to consider wearing gloves.

Larry Scritchfield

Thanks for the replies - it was a pretty straightforward descent on one beauty of a day. Although I can see how you can get up without actually using the cables it's not something that I'd want to try unroped (probably 5.4-ish?). You have to wonder why Anderson (?) felt he had to put bolts straight up the face without using any of the natural features.