"We Still Have To Get Over That!!?"

Say it ain't so. We must still get up, around and over the daunting Sub Dome (hikers also popularly call this formation Quarter Dome) to reach the cables.

By many accounts the steep, narrow switchbacks ahead represent the most difficult portion of the entire hike. A chance misstep will almost certainly guarantee a fatal fall.

Contrary to my expectations the navigation of Sub Dome engendered genuine fear in me when I had expected the cables to fulfill that role. When I got to the cables I felt no trepidation at all because "all of my fear had been used up at the Sub Dome switchbacks."