YOSEMITE -- A hiker who instinctively grabbed for a falling radio slid down Half Dome, stopping when a ledge broke his fall. Fellow hikers on Yosemite's most iconic hike took apart the cables to rescue the man, a 56-year-old from San Jose, when he fell June 22.
It was a dramatic moment in what has been a fairly quiet year for the park's emergency teams.
"This year, we have actually had very few search and rescue incidents and fatalities," said Kari Cobb, Yosemite spokeswoman. "Last year at this time, we had quite a bit more than what we have now."
Last year, 15 people had died at the park by the middle of August, including a woman hiking Half Dome and three Central Valley residents swept over Vernal Fall during a day trip.
The thundering waterfalls that helped attract 4 million visitors in 2011 have slowed significantly this year after a drier-than-usual winter.
"Last year, we received 199 percent of normal snowpack," Cobb said. "This year, we barely received 50 percent. There's a vast difference in the amount ofwater flowing through, particularly in Yosemite Valley."
Falls that haven't stopped since August 2010 now are little more than a steady drip.
"Yosemite Falls still has a little stream of water coming down," Cobb said Friday. "But it will definitely be dry in the next couple of weeks. Last year, it didn't go dry at all."
Rangers also have been trying to emphasize safety messages throughout the park, she said. And the National Park Service has tweaked the system it uses to distribute permits to climb Half Dome, a 14- to 16-mile hike that Rick Deutsch refers to as "our Mount Everest."
Deutsch is an outdoor enthusiast who runs a Web site under the name "Mr. Half Dome." He said he's done the hike 32 times.
"It's my obsession," he said. "I just did it two weeks ago and I'm going up again July 7."
This is the third year the park service has issued permits — 300 day passes and 100 for those camping overnight — to hikers seeking to conquer Half Dome. The first two years, the system was beset by scalpers and people hoarding the $1.50 permits.
This year, Cobb said, the service is using a lottery system, and one of two people named as trip leaders must be present. Canceled permits are available in a separate lottery, with two days' notice. "We've had an almost 100 percent success rate," she said.
A ranger stationed at the bottom of the cables checks for permits or identification. The ranger carries a BlackBerry — with a working signal — to access the permit system.
"Obviously, we're not out there 24 hours a day," Cobb said. "But the problem wasn't people hiking at 5 o'clock in the morning. The problem was people getting there between 10 and 2."
Lack of a working cellular signal led to a delay in informing rangers of the San Jose man's accident last week, said Jessica Chamberlain, another park spokeswoman.
It was about 4:30 p.m. when someone higher up along the cables dropped a hand-held radio. It's not unusual for items such as water bottles, gear or the occasional cell phone to fall as people ascend Half Dome. The 56-year-old grabbed for the radio, then lost his balance and slid about 40 feet to a small ledge.
"Nobody had a cell phone that had any service, so someone … ran down and found somebody down the trail a little more that actually had a cell phone that worked."
As search and rescue teams prepared a helicopter to respond, word came through the phone that the other hikers had used the cables to reach the man, who suffered only minor cuts and scrapes.
Rangers closed the trail while they inspected and replaced the cables, and reopened it the next day.
Deutsch said he'd like to see rangers implement even more safety measures, such as requiring people to sit through a short presentation on the dangers of everything from the wrong footwear to not having enough water. People who tackle Half Dome often are ill-equipped for such an arduous adventure, wearing sandals or arriving out of shape.
"Right now, the only two rules are that you can't camp out on top and that you need a permit."
Deutsch also said he wasn't surprised that fellow hikers pitched in to help someone in trouble, pointing out that similar tales have been told since the cables went up in 1919.
"When you're going up those cables, everybody's going up those cables," he said. "You're kind of in it together."
Bee staff writer Patty Guerra can be reached at pguerra@modbee.com or (209) 578-2343.
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