Half Dome, Yosemite

Leaving the west coast for good we went to Yosemite. The park is known
for its giant sequoias but also for the 1km high granite walls of El
Capitan and Half Dome
which are the cradle of big wall climbing and still present a huge
challenge to climbers from all over the world. As we are not (yet)
among those, we hiked on the Half Dome (pictured behind me, looking from
Glacier Point) from its more accesible
side (the climbers take the vertical wall). That being said it was
still a pretty long 12h hike with the last section on bare and steep
granite where one has to use fixed steel ropes to pull oneself up (can
be seen on one of the photos). The view from the top is absolutely
rewarding.

But the bigger challenge awaits us tommorow. We will hike Mt. Whitney, the highest peak of the US (except Alaska): over 4400m
(14000ft) with an elevation gain on the way to its top of almost 2000m
(6500ft). It will be a long day...