The title could have read anything else such as: I fell on the cables at Half Dome and lived to tell the Story or Hiking Half Dome again after twenty two years or I got another lease of life.….. but what really was important from all the events of yesterday that I think are important to share with the world is that there is a lot of kindness in this world. But in all the meanness and negativity that we read each day, one tends to forget or not realize just how much kindness exists in this world.

When I had shared a kindness story, a few years ago, a friend had asked me to share more of those and that people need to share more of those. I didn’t do due diligence. Earlier this year, when I lost my parents, during those ordeals, there are countless people who have showered me with kindness (all of them known to me). I didn’t record it. However, yesterday’s events were such that the kindness was from complete strangers and to such lengths… and I experienced similar kindness in July on the same trail with strangers and wanted the world to know.

In July, I last went hiking in Yosemite with my very good friend from Australia. That day was not a good day for my knees (an ongoing problem for over five years that I have learned to cope with). I had forgotten my hiking poles and descending from the base of Half Dome (we didn’t have permits) was challenging on my knees to say the least. I had forgotten all my best practices and wasn’t carrying anything either. Several people gave way, or asked how I was doing. One such person stopped after checking in. I said fine — just managing with my knees. He then took out a wad of Aleve and said take as many as you want. He has a chronic back issue and carries these so he can do such hikes. That was such a god sent. It kicked in after a while and made a huge difference in my descent. My friend, in the meantime, kept looking for sturdy branches to use as poles and so I had those as poles and made it down and was able to drive back just fine.

Fast forward to October 7th. Applied and got into the Half Dome cables permit. My friend, B, with whom I hike and run regularly with, was going to be my partner in crime. I had climbed Half Dome last in 1997 with my husband and my friend just last month. So on the 8th we figured out all the logistics (food of course being a prominent aspect). We had everything we needed. I had taken every precaution for my knees. We drove into a very smokey Yosemite early am — the sunrise was beautiful…

Sunrise driving into Yosemite

We had a wonderful time hiking up, however slow on the last stretch. There were many people but it was so nice with everyone being so considerate of everybody else, realising the perils.

On the way down on the cables, started down, realising that one could slip and go really fast, turned around and found myself slowly through the breaks. I slipped about a fourth of the way from the bottom. The slip was such that I knew if I didn’t hold onto something, that was it. So I grabbed onto whatever I could find. In the meantime, my head hit either or a combination of one of those solid metal poles and a metal strip and I fell flat, during which time, my hiking poles from my backpack got stuck on this wooden rod.

I was trying to figure out how to brace myself up before which I heard this woman next to me scream. Apparently, I had started bleeding profusely. The women with her not only tried to calm her down, tried to think about how to help me.

Because my friend was taking shots, she captured this as I fell.

My friend had reached the bottom and came up to help as well. Between the two women, they managed to “unstick” my hiking poles, and I was able to get up. My friend then went behind me and guided me so I came down the cables. Meanwhile, I kept bleeding.

The woman who had panicked, unfortuntately, I completely ruined her Half dome ascent. She couldn’t proceed thereafter and had to come down. I managed to thank and apologize to them a little later. Right now they think that they will never climb Half Dome and I am really sorry for that.

Meanwhile, three complete strangers — three wonderful women from So Cal, had a medical kit ready for me. Two of them dressed up my head so that they could try and stop the bleeding while one was on the phone with Search and Rescue. My friend took over the search and rescue calls — this on the sub dome at the foot of the cables — thank goodness for cell phones and their service even if it is only at certain spots. We missed getting a photo with them. Don’t want to post their names either. They were unbelievably caring.

A group of three men came down the cables, saw my head and asked if I was the one with all that blood. Turned out two of them are doctors from Sweden. One of them did all the preliminary tests. When I got up to try and walk, my legs were extremely wobbly so I knew I couldn’t go down and would be a burden to anyone. So the doctor continued the conversation with Search and Rescue. Until then, they had been reluctant to have me airlifted, thinking i had done the cables so I should just hike down the 8 miles. I know that by sheer will power telling myself I had to get down those cables, I got myself to do it safely. I knew I had a responsibility to my family and everyone to make sure I was ok.

So after the doctor convinced them, they were like yes, we will send someone. It will be between 45 -60 minutes. While all this was happening, it was starting to get cold and the three kind ladies from So Cal were still hanging around. I insisted they leave because the three-person team insisted on staying — the one doctor and mountaineer were going to stay back with me waiting for the chopper — and the other doctor would accompany my friend on the hike down because the chopper would only take one person. I was incredibly lucky through all this that my cognitive abilities were working fine and my humor hadn’t gone but I had to keep everyone’s spirits going. It is more anxiety to the others seeing the blood than to the patient himself/herself I have realised.

The three guys got me a heat blanket (from one of the women), found me a sheltered spot from the wind to sit on, etc. And we just waited. The chopper arrived a long time later. In the meantime, every hiker passing by stopped, checked in and was willing to wait and help. One of a family was also a doctor. The mountaineer was really cold so one of a set of hikers lent his jacket. Unbelievable — the level of kindness and compassion.

The two doctors on the right and the mountaineer on the left

Going down to the valley floor in a chopper is surreal but was not in any mindset for anything. There were a few more adventure points thereafter. The medics were stunned at the size of the cuts. Everyone was incredibly caring and thoughtful in the ambulances and valley floor care. The ambulance then took me (i had to have a transfer of two ambulances) to a community hospital in Fresno, which I learned is the only trauma center in all of Central Valley so it is extremely busy. They took very good care of me. I got 19 staples on one cut and 10 on another. Drugged up and with a tetanus shot — and then waited till they decided they could discharge me which was around 11:15 pm (I fell around 2 p.m.).

My friend left the valley after one of the doctors accompanied her the entire way, then drove to the hospital. She was obviously tired and I am so grateful she was there. So at the gas station to fill gas, we both bought cokes and icecream to keep ourselves awake. I talked to her non-stop — being all drugged up can just suppress any pain. We made it home safe at 3:30 a.m.. My husband dropped her home in Sunnyvale and am home resting.

This is all bizarre — like out of the movies — and I wish I wasn’t part of it but am.

My lessons:

1. I have a new lease of life, many guardian angels and am beyond grateful, counting my blessings.

2. There is so much kindness in this world and one tends to forget that in the face of our daily negative news and press. Don’t ever forget. People are inherently nice.

Please be kind, no matter what. In the world of education we have to always remind ourselves — it is not what you say but how you say it that is so important to a child. Practice kindness and compassion. It goes a long way. And it does come back!