Lottery Date Set For Half Dome Permits

Yosemite, CA — After postponing the traditional March 1st date for the Half Dome permit preseason lottery last month, Yosemite National Park officials announce the opening will be held next week.

Normally the application process runs the entire month of March, but late last month park officials were forced to delay the typical lottery opening date as a transition to a new contract provider was underway. The new preseason application opening date is Wednesday, March 13th, beginning at 7 a.m. (PDT).

In the preseason lottery, 225 permits are awarded for each day that the cables are up. All day use hiking permits are needed to ascend the Half Dome cables, which are usually up from late May until early October. During that time, an additional 50 permits are handed out daily via a lottery.

Park officials note that there have been some changes to the application process and to view them, click here.