On Top of the World

Woman, 20, and her 82-year-old grandfather share experience of a climb up Half Dome.

By Flora Beach Burlingame
Fresno Bee Sierra Gateway Neighbors - August 9, 2002

Emily Isaac, a 20-year-old college student, and 82-year-old Cliff Hiemforth have discovered a unique way to strengthen the bond between granddaughter and grandfather -- climb Half Dome together.

In photo at right, starting from the left, Bruce Pickard, Cliff Hiemforth, Rae Sanchez and Ingrid Wolff reach the top of Half Dome.

In the company of three other companions, the pair recently stood triumphant at the 8,842-foot summit of Yosemite's dominant rock.

"My grandpa's pretty awesome," said Isaac, reflecting on their accomplishment.

No ordinary stroll, the 17-mile round trip to the dome's top requires grit and conditioning. Trails from the Yosemite Valley floor steeply ascend 8.5 miles to the base of the dome.

Then comes the fun part -- the last 900 feet up the rock at a 45-degree angle. In order to access the 13-acre top of the dome, climbers are channeled into a trail defined by two waist-high steel cables. Boards placed at 10-foot intervals provide the only traction, and gloves worn by the hikers keep hands gripped on the cables.

Through Sept. 19, crews will be repairing the stone steps of the "shoulder" to the summit cables leading to the top of Half Dome. Hikers and climbers will have access to the trail from 4 p.m. Thursdays through 7 p.m. Mondays, and from 4 to 7 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays.

The first known non-indigenous man to conquer Half Dome was George Anderson on Oct. 12, 1875. A blacksmith by trade, Anderson drilled holes in the rock and inserted eye bolts while he ascended, fastening ropes in them along the way. At some point in time the Sierra Club added cables, which were then replaced under the auspices of the California Conservation Corps in 1934. Hundreds of visitors to Yosemite attempt to reach the top each year.

Isaac first climbed Half Dome in fall 2001. She said she ran five miles daily for several weeks in preparation for the hike. However, her companions on that trip, all young people, hadn't conditioned as diligently. "They stopped about every 10 minutes," Isaac said. Even so, they all managed to master the ascent.

"The view is hard to describe," Isaac said. "You feel like you are on top of the world."

Following the experience, she wanted to do it again and encouraged her grandpa, who recently took up hiking, to accompany her. He agreed to meet the challenge and garnered three of his hiking friends to accompany them.

The group of five adventurers left their respective homes at 4:30 the morning of the climb. By 6:30 they were parked at Camp Curry in Yosemite Valley and ready to go. In addition to Isaac and Hiemforth, the group consisted of Rae Sanchez, Bruce Pickard and Ingrid Wolff, all in their 60s and members of the Sierra Hiking Seniors.

"They set a real good pace," said Isaac, who confessed she wasn't in as good shape when she experienced her first Half Dome encounter. "Here I am huffing and puffing and the rest are bouncing along."

Sanchez admits they didn't bounce the whole way. After having traveled seven-plus miles the group began its ascent on a ridge of granite leading to the dome. "The steps placed there for our convenience were 12 to 15 inches high," Sanchez said. "It took lots of energy we did not have to make ourselves continue."

The group reached the cables at 11:40 a.m. "Holding on was harder than moving," Hiemforth said. "I took the wrong gloves. The cables are very smooth and hard to get a grip."

Another complicating factor was the number of other climbers. "People were coming up and going down," Hiemforth said.

Sanchez said a group of young people ahead just hung on the cables. "I told them to keep moving for the rest of us. The hanging and waiting was very strenuous on already tired muscles."

Concerned about her grandfather, Isaac said, at times she couldn't watch him go up the cables. She kept telling him he didn't have to go on if he didn't want to.

But perseverance paid off, and they all reached the top at 12:05 p.m. "I was so pleased to get up there, I sat down and rested my legs," Hiemforth said, although he was actually more tired when he hiked Yosemite Falls.

"I was so happy he made it to the top. I was so proud of him," Isaac said.

"I was very proud of him too," Wolff said. "I hope I'll be like that when I'm 82."

Their stay on top to admire the view was cut short due to approaching thunder clouds. "There were warnings everywhere telling of the danger of being on the cables during a storm," Sanchez said. So at 12:30 they started down. With the help of high-calorie trail mix, power bars, Gatorade and lots of water, they completed the 17-mile trek in 12 hours.

Two days later, Hiemforth accompanied the Sierra Hiking Seniors to Mt. Raymond, a strenuous, cross-country, eight-mile hike.

The octogenarian admits to not always having been in such great shape. When he first moved to the Sierra foothills in 1985, he attempted the climb to Nevada Falls, but got up to the Mist Trail and had to turn around because his legs hurt. His real hiking career began only in January of this year, when he joined the seniors hiking group. He now strongly believes this type of exercise is good for the body, regardless of age. "Once I started hiking, my blood pressure went from 142 to 112 in six months," Hiemforth said.

This new avocation has even led to a speaking engagement with the local Kiwanis Club, where he has been asked to talk about the benefits of hiking.

In the meantime he keeps on trekking, and Isaac joins him whenever possible. When it is his turn to lead a hike with the hiking group, she helps him scout out the trail in advance. Most recently they led the way at Mono Pass for a 10-mile jaunt.

"He and his granddaughter enjoy a very special relationship," Pickard said. "He's an example to her and to me and to others. He has the heart to complete what he starts."

As for Half Dome, Hiemforth says he would encourage anyone to do it. And with that goal attained, he and his granddaughter are making other plans. "We are talking about Mt. Whitney now," he said.

-- Flora Beach Burlingame is a free-lance writer living in Mariposa.