Yosemite's First Via Ferratta?

Many folks have asked me - it's bound to happen eventually I guess we should talk about where would be the best place? Off the top of my head I would love to take someone out the Alcove and up the Dawn Wall but I think starting modestly with a via ferratta on the East Ledges of El Cap would provide safe cumbres for mountaineers and rescue personnel and would have the bonus that EC climbers could waltz down it after their ascents. Where do you think the first one will be?

I think George Anderson claimed this one, E

Isn’t there one up the Indian creek area to the rim?  

I know the power line to the high country runs up there and could have sworn it was installed ( or something similar) so they could navagate the terrain

North shoulder of Half Dome

That's all El Cap needs... a cables route so hundreds of people per day can access the top, throw junk off, clog up the descent, etc. Yosemite is popular enough already, it doesn't need a new pimp, Erik.  

I thought trhe NPS was banning "installations".

Is this a late April fools joke??

Evan Atwaterwrote:

Is this a late April fools joke??

Eh, climbers hate via ferratas but they aren't for us. I think making a sort of climbing accessible to more people can be kinda cool. I have my hesitations about where they should be and under what context, but I think climbers opposing them outright is silly. It's another discipline just as canyoneering, caving, and highlining are. 

Do I want a via ferrata going up El cap? Hell no. But surely there are some walls that aren't good climbing that could host one?

Yosemite is popular enough? Just one team of 2 has topped out El Cap in the first 3.5 months of this year, popular? .....a cliff over a mile wide and three thousand feet tall with perfect rock quality and a 15 minute approach sees 2 people summit in a third of the year - that's crazy!

I think one going up to Glacier Point on or near the Apron would be pretty fun. Being able to casually climb up (or down) to the top in an hour or two would be awesome. Galactic hitchhiker was a fun route but I'm not good enough for it to feel casual lol.

Ricky Harlinewrote:

Eh, climbers hate via ferratas but they aren't for us. I think making a sort of climbing accessible to more people can be kinda cool. I have my hesitations about where they should be and under what context, but I think climbers opposing them outright is silly. It's another discipline just as canyoneering, caving, and highlining are. 

Do I want a via ferrata going up El cap? Hell no. But surely there are some walls that aren't good climbing that could host one?

I don’t necessarily hate via Ferratas personally (depends where they are), but putting one up the east ledges (or god forbid the Dawn wall) sounds ridiculous especially given all the fixed hardware/wilderness stuff going on. You can already hike to the top of el cap or climb the cables in half dome. I just feel like adding a via ferrata would lead to non climbers getting themselves into some trouble… it’s happened before at my home crag Index, which gets a minuscule fraction of the traffic Yosemite gets. And if it would theoretically be restricted to guide services then why not just hire a guide to bring you up an actual climb?  

I see what you are saying but it just doesn’t make sense to me. 

Evan Atwaterwrote:

I don’t necessarily hate via Ferratas personally (depends where they are), but putting one up the east ledges (or god forbid the Dawn wall) sounds ridiculous especially given all the fixed hardware/wilderness stuff going on. You can already hike to the top of el cap or climb the cables in half dome. I just feel like adding a via ferrata would lead to non climbers getting themselves into some trouble… it’s happened before attempts home crag Index, which gets a minuscule fraction of the traffic Yosemite gets. And if it would theoretically be restricted to guide services then why not just hire a guide to bring you up an actual climb?  

I see what you are saying but it just doesn’t make sense to me. 

Solid points. 

But have you considered that anyone who gets in over their head on a via ferrata has been gifted a character building experience? 

DEI should be incorporated not only into Universities, but to all National Parks starting from Yosemity: "Diversity, equity and inclusion are interconnected concepts that refer to the variety of unique individuals that make up a group of people and the environment that allows them to work together as equally valued contributors." 

Everyone should be given opportunities  to concur Dawn Wall

Ricky Harlinewrote:

 I think making a sort of climbing accessible to more people can be kinda cool.

Of course you do

PWZwrote:

Of course you do

"How dare non climbers enjoy the outdoors and ascending rock faces"

--PWZ, 2024 

Everyone should be given opportunities  to concur Dawn Wall

Long ago Ray Jardine, patent-creator of Friends, sculptor of the Jardine Traverse on the Nose by which all subsequent Nose free ascents used and use, proposed bolting on enough holds on El Cap to create an every-person's 5.10 route to the summit. We said no.

Isn’t there already one up half dome?

El Capitan, what a great park! More people should see it. What a great place for a trail. There's a lovely climbing place there, in Yosemite . . . great trail, up me boys

Erik, I would think this is a joke except for your history of putting in hardware the majority of the community feels is unethical.

This is a fucking TERRIBLE idea. Stop trying to justify it in your mind.

We're already on thin ice in National Park wilderness areas. They are considering defining all bolts "installations" and they could regulate bolts by not allowing new bolts, requiring permits, or even removing all bolts altogether.

If someone is stupid enough to put in this kind of hardware in Yosemite it will be chopped and bring unwanted attention from the Park Service. Look at what happened in Smith Rock when that idiot put in a via ferrata there to make a point. Lots of drama and unwanted attention. Then there's a good chance this could lead to all future bolting needing to be permitted or banned altogether. PLEASE don't be the person that ruins the climbing community's ability to put in bolts the majority feel are acceptable. 

The Half Dome cables are basically a Via Ferrata but are historic and if someone wants to do a Via Ferrata experience in Yosemite they can do that. I've never argued against the cables and think it would be dumb to remove them because they are the experience of a lifetime for some people. A convenience via ferrata put in by a member of the general public, not maintained, is not the same thing.

Erik Sloanwrote:

Many folks have asked me

But probably 99.999% of climbers have not asked you because they would never want such a thing in YNP.

 - it's bound to happen eventually

No. No it's not.

 I guess we should talk about where would be the best place? 

On private land, not in YNP.  

Off the top of my head I would love to take someone out the Alcove and up the Dawn Wall 

Everybody is allowed a fantasy.  

but I think starting modestly with a via ferratta on the East Ledges of El Cap would provide safe cumbres for mountaineers and rescue personnel and would have the bonus that EC climbers could waltz down it after their ascents.

You may think that but "many folks" would disagree with you, including, very probably, the NPS.

 Where do you think the first one will be?

I think the cables is enough of a headache for the NPS, and that there will not be another one allowed in YNP.

Ricky Harlinewrote:

"How dare non climbers enjoy the outdoors and ascending rock faces"

--PWZ, 2024 

You know, sometimes a barrier to entry is a good thing.