Nate and Shay's map of Half Dome's Regular Northwest Face

A couple of summers ago, my friends Nate and Shay climbed the Northwest Face of Half Dome. They used a climber's map, or topo, as their guide. I love the way they combined a photo slideshow with a climber's topo. Interact with the topo on their website:

Climber topos are remarkable to begin with because they condense information on thousands of feet of vertical terrain to a single pocket sized page.

Brockengespenst (Brocken Spectre)

John Muir on the summit of Half Dome in 1875:

"perfectly glorious... A massive cloud of pure pearl luster... was arched across the valley from wall to wall... My shadow, clearly outlined, about half a mile long, lay upon this glorious white surface with startling effect. I walked back and forth, waved my arms and struck all sorts of attitudes, to see every slightest movement enormously exaggerated."

Brocken spectre with glory (halo) on fog below the Golden Gate Bridge.

Brocken spectre with glory on Aconcagua.

Aunt Evelyn

My great-great aunt Evelyn scaling Half Dome (center) and waving her hat at the top (right) in 1933.  Not sure how to tie this in to the theme of illusion, magic, and handiwork, but it just seems to belong.  Maybe this is more handiwork than anything else.... the grand creation of things type of handiwork.  Side note: Aunt Evelyn and her husband did live part-time in a cave in Yosemite Valley.