After almost a ten mile hike through a landscape fit for a lord of the rings movie we reached the Half Dome base camp.......

High above the tree line on a thin spine of granite completely exposed to the elements with a 4000 feet drop to the valley floor in either direction is a smooth area with few dozen other nutcases catching breath and eating snacks before the final ascent up the rock face. Those little dots in the centre are people scaling up the cables heading to the summit. When i first saw this scene with the wind howling in all directions i literally almost shit in my shorts. The path to the top was straight upwards. It looked absolutely bananas because it was pure fuckin bananas.

Base camp was filled with people from around the world. Its hard to tell but it was incredibly windy in these photos. We rested for a while. Some of us had headaches from the altitude. Just sitting on the camel hump of smooth rock with sheer drops feet away was intense enough..........I ate all my snacks really fast. I wasnt going to die way up here on an empty stomach !! No way.

After a round of high fives and epic one liners we began the cable climb. Ive done some pretty awsome idiotic shite in my day but nothing tops this stunt. It was out of control up there as we inched up. The rock itself was incredibly slippery and every 10 feet there was a tiny wooden foot rest. With the air being thinner the efforts needed to pull hand over hand were huge. The wind howled and i regretted wearing my straw hat on the rock face. It felt like i was wearing a small parachute attached around my neck. I dug in and crawled up. Trying my best to not look down on either side. I think i even talked to myself on the way up. Parts of the climb seemed vertical with jutting overhangs of rock that were incredibly hard to manouver over and past. When Indiana Jones cuts the rope bridge with the machete in Temple of Doom and they all climb up the cliff wall using the bridge parts. That was pretty much our deal. There just wasnt any arrows flying at us . I quickly learned baby steps were way easier than trying to use wide steps. My borrowed gardening gloves were ripping to shreds from the hot metal cables , my army canteen kept catching on the poles and my wickerman hat kept trying to turn me into flying squirral. The whole situation was fucked. I barely took photos. Freeing one hand to use a camera took all my balls i had left in me. Im amazed the pics even came out my hands were shaking so much.

I dont even remember what section this is . I have a feeling from the degrees its more near the top where it mellows out . On the vertical part you couldnt have paid me in pounds of spagetti to pull my camera out .

After a gruelling cable climb we made it to the top. It took everything out of us. Our celebration steps were slow ones as we headed to the peak.

With the hot winds howling around me i sat slumped in the loose rocks and dust , drank my water and just stared in awe in every direction. It was a mental feeling.

The front of Half Dome is a sheer drop into oblivion. I looked over once and got dizzy.

I was still peely waaly from peering over the edge. This is me actually smiling !!

After a wee bit i headed back down the hell ride. It was like walking down a massive basketball.

Felt like Sir Edmund Hillary up here. Everest here we come !!

Going down was a whole differnt bag of good times. The rock surface had little grip and the winds had increased. As i inched down there were moments where id stop to catch a breath and find myself saying out loud

"ooh fuck ooohh shit aaargh fuckshit goddammit fuck " . No one could hear a thing up there so it felt ok. Maybe everyone was jibber jabbering out loud. Id like to hope so !!

When i reached the bottom i literally got on my knees and kissed the ground in front of me. I have never done that in my life. I didnt even think about it . I was on celebration auto pilot survival mode. It felt so damn good to be back on level ground. I dont even know how long it took to traverse the cables. Time goes right out the window up there.

This epic dudeman from India came down after us. He had awsome spicy snacks in his bag and the squirrels and chipmunks ate their way through his rucksack to get to them. It was hilarious watching him chase the pakora thiefs away. The wee varmits made a pretty decent hole in his bag in seconds.

Heres the other half of our crew. Leonis , Gladis and Yulma absolutely killed it today. I take my hat off to these ladies. Mexico is number one in my book. Always !!

The hike home to our campiste killed everyone of us. Dead men walking !!

A day the 6 of us will never forget..........

We walked almost 20 miles today and id eaten all my snacks between mile 2 and 7. Ugh. I hate the Loch Ness Tape Worm !!

Im so tired i'd let a bear eat me and my tent !!