Just some assorted thoughts after the trek this weekend. I promise, this is the last in the series of mountaineering related posts. Atleast for a few more weeks.

Foremost, snaps here.

– I am more than satisfied with my attempt of Half Dome this time around. Clocking 2 hrs 57 mins (minus 3 mins, if I hadn’t obliged the dude who wanted me to take a rather perfect snap), it is a great timing for an amateur trekker, and there is no way I can surpass this. Rather, I do not think I can improve upon this significantly, so I don’t really have any drive to attempt another time trial.

The breakup was 30 mins – Top of Vernal falls, 1 hr – Top of Nevada falls, 1 hr 51 mins – 2.0 mile checkpoint, 2 hrs 28 mins – Base of sub-dome, 2 hrs 44 mins – Base of metal cables, 2 hrs 57 mins – Top of Half Dome.

From Half Dome, Clouds Rest 7th June 2009

– Just when I thought I could boast about the timing, I met a 51- year old guy at the top. It was his 43rd time at Half Dome, and he was aiming for 50 this season itself. He had been hiking Half Dome once each, for the past three weekends.

I was just humbled. (I later also learnt that the running record for Half Dome is 2 hrs 30 mins for a roundtrip !! More humbling follows)

– This attempt of Half Dome and Clouds Rest was far superior to my previous one. While I had almost dropped dead upon reaching Clouds Rest the last time, this time we made it comfortably, merrily singing songs. Add to that a better timing. I hope this means I have matured as a trekker and learnt to both conserve and chase.

– While on the trekking part, who the $%@# thought of laying a tar road for the first 1 mile of the Half Dome trail ? No, seriously, who the %#$ ?

– Was it the same person who also came up with the ingenuous idea of throwing in sand on the trail in the Little Yosemite Valley part of the hike ? If yes, kindly come over to my place to collect some gifts.

– It is quite unfair that after scaling a peak, you have to pointlessly walk back over 10 miles back to the base (before you can boast to friends, update on Facebook, Twitter and your blog, all of which I deeply frown upon). It is for this one reason, if not anything else, that I’ll learn paragliding.

– This might sound strange, but the ratio of males to females was around 1:1 for the Half  Dome hike. The only ones that are trying hard to skew this ratio in favour of males, are we, the people.

– I finally found a song of Kishore Kumar that I like. The song being “Chookar Mere Man Ko“. I had heard it before, but this was the first time I heard it properly and quite liked it. Sadly, this is currently the only song of Kishore Kumar that I like. For some reason, I never warmed up to Kishore Kumar’s singing; I prefer the earlier era of Mohd. Rafi and Manna Dey. Undoubtedly, Kishore Kumar is a genius, while the aforementioned are, at best, supremely talented and accomplished. But so it goes.

About this song, I really liked the way he has softened his voice. The lyrics and music only help.

– On this trip, I discovered that Burger King in fact, has a Veggie burger, unlike McDonald’s and In&Out. Plus it is really good ! Pity it took me 2 years to find this out.