What is the earliest time a team could get up the SW face of Half Dome in the spring? I am looking at a trip in May or June for a return to Snake Dike 5.7. Any help is appriciated. Thanx Matt

-- Matt Stricklin (strickl2@marshall.edu), February 11, 1998

Answers

I climbed Snake Dike in May one year, it was windy and rather cold but still reasonably nice. This year may be a bit unusual with all the snow. Don't worry about getting down when the cables are "down". They leave the cables in but take the poles holding them off the rock out. It is still simple to back down holding onto the cable.

-- George Bell (bell@advtech.uswest.com), March 06, 1998.

The definitive answer on snow conditions: Check out the Half-Dome camera, updated every few hours, at

http://home.inreach.com/danlyle/current.htm

Its a great resource to see the current conditions.

Have fun!

-- Adrian Hill (adrianhill@bell-labs.com), April 19, 1998.