Rising nearly 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley and 8,000 feet above sea level, Half Dome is a Yosemite icon and a great challenge to many hikers. Despite an 1865 report declaring that it was "perfectly inaccessible, being probably the only one of the prominent points about the Yosemite which has never been, and never will be, trodden by human foot," George Anderson reached the summit in 1875, in the process layingthe predecessor to today's cable route. Today, thousands of people reach the summit. For most, it is an exciting, arduous hike; for a few, it becomes more of an adventure than they wanted.