I don't understand why people who know little or nothing about climbing should be allowed to climb Half Dome. Easy solution - take the darn cables off the rock face. Personally, that would mean I'd probably never make the climb -- so be it. People are flocking to complete the feat only because they're available. Yeah, we could install safety nets, jackhammer stairs into the rockface, install telephones every 100 feet, pump water to the summit for those who didn't bring enough, install a giant lightning rod at the top, and hand out distress beacons as a public service, but what's the point? Does the Park Service have an obligation to facilitate people's sense of a thrill or rush? Then to have those same people urinate all over the mountaintop and feed marmots, squirrels and bears all their discarded food scraps along the way... no thanks, I'll spend my time elsewhere.

Can you imagine lightning hitting that cable while hundreds of people were clinging to it for dear life? What a spectacle that would be!

-- Jon