THE EARNEST TRAVELER
The cables require a permit awarded by lottery. Treat Half Dome as a bonus, never the reason for the trip.
Half Dome is the picture on the postcard and the hike almost nobody gets to do. The published success rate is real but badly misunderstood, and the honest number is a lot smaller.
The odds, stated properly
The headline "22% success" figure is the chance that any one of your date choices hits — not the chance for a given day.
Per individual date, the 2024 preseason odds were 1.0% on weekdays and 0.8% on weekends.
The daily lottery — run two days before the hike date — is far better: roughly 22% on weekdays and 14% on weekends. If you are already in the area with flexible days, that is the realistic route in.
What it costs
- $10 non-refundable to apply.
- Plus $10 per person if you win.
The costs stack, and the application fee is gone whether or not you are drawn.
How to think about it
Plan the trip around the Mist Trail, Vernal and Nevada Falls, and the Valley. Enter the preseason lottery because it is $10. Enter the daily lottery while you are there because the odds are twenty times better. If you win, you get a remarkable day. If you do not — which is the overwhelmingly likely outcome — nothing about your trip was contingent on it.
Anyone selling you a Yosemite itinerary built around summiting Half Dome is selling you a 1% chance.
Seeing Half Dome without the cables
You do not need a permit to look at it, and the best views are all free:
- Tunnel View — Half Dome at the far end of the valley, in frame with El Capitan.
- Sentinel Bridge — Half Dome reflected in the Merced River, best at sunset, strongest in fall and winter when the water runs lower.
- Cook's Meadow Loop — a flat one-mile boardwalk with Half Dome on one side and Yosemite Falls on the other.
- Glacier Point — the profile view, level with the dome rather than beneath it. Seasonal road.
If you do get a permit
It is a long day from the Valley floor with significant exposure on the cables. The altitude is modest — the summit is well below the Tioga Road high country — but the distance and the descent are not. Start before dawn.
A long day, sun exposure, and a descent that punishes bad footwear.