Yosemite’s Half Dome is simultaneously one of the world’s most popular natural tourist attractions and one of its most dangerous. Thousands of people visit the iconic dome-like peak every year where everything from surprise storms to a simple slip on its infamous cables can be hazards. On October 12, two visitors nearly died from the latter, but they were saved by good Samaritans who jumped into action.
Footage of the incident appeared online Friday from SFGate, showing a brief moment when hikers began to form a human chain.
According to SF Gate, a woman slipped and fell while walking down the section equipped with Half Dome’s infamous cables. Her screams while sliding down the steep rock face caught the attention of other hikers, who eventually sprung into action.
One of the first to take action, according to SF Gate, was 20-year-old Ian Moran, who was visiting Half Dome with his father, Brain.
“I just was shouting, ‘No, no, no!’ because I knew she was dead,” Brian Moran told SFGATE. “And then she stopped, and I just couldn’t believe it.”
At that point, the woman’s fiancé had gone after her, but he was quickly in the same deadly scenario and needed help too. Both were clinging to the rocks, while Ian recruited other hikers to collect their gear. Two other hikers had a rope, then others added gear like harnesses, carabiners, and slings to make “a jerry-rigged chain” that they secured to the cables.
“At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2026, the Yosemite Emergency Communications Center received a report that two uninjured hikers had slid from the Half Dome cables and were clinging to the rock,” a statement from the National Parks Service reads. “A park ranger responded with technical rescue equipment to the base of the cables at 2:56 p.m. to find the hikers were safe and did not require immediate rescue assistance from National Park Service personnel.”
