Permits Being Required To Scale Half Dome On All Days

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Permits soon will be required to scale Half Dome in Yosemite National Park on all days, not just weekends and holidays.

The National Park Service on Monday announced it was expanding the permitting requirement first implemented earlier this year.

Park officials say they found a spike in the number of people scaling the granite monolith from Monday through Thursday after the weekend and holiday permit requirement was put in place earlier in 2010.

So they now also want to control the number of climbers on all weekdays.

The goal is to limit overcrowding on the trail that officials say has contributed to injuries and at least one fatality in recent years.

The Fresno Bee reports that permits will be available starting March 1 for climbs in May and June. A $1.50 processing fee will be charged for each one.

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