Half Dome cables will remain, hikers still limited
Friday - 1/4/2013, 8:00pm ET
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Climbing Yosemite's Half Dome is one of the national park system's most iconic hikes in the nationwide system, but on Friday officials announced approval of a plan that permanently limits how many can do it.
National Park Service authorities will issue permits to limit the number of hikers to 300 a day, the target number since an interim plan was approved in 2010 to reduce congestion in a wilderness area and make the hike safer.
The park also decided to keep in place the metal cables that hikers can use on the 45-degree final ascent up the slick granite.
Over the past decade, up to 1,200 hikers a day had crowded the route.
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