You have got to get this shot early in the day as it faces directly West.  Rays of the setting sun degrade picture quality severely.   Unfortunately, it takes a while to get subjects and photographer into position... like you have to climb it first!  That automatically means the westward pictures will be less than optimum.

It seems that Kurt and Sue win the award for the most photographed among us.  Sure hope those granite slabs hold.  I don't even want to think what would happen if they gave way.  There would be at least one more tourist attraction in the Valley.

Yosemite Valley below is the Park's main tourist destination.   Even though more than 100 people climb Half Dome in peak (no pun intended) season, the density of humankind here at the top is nothing compared with the hordes which roam the Valley.  I'm glad we're here.  In fact, Half Dome is the first place we've really encountered other humans in any quantity.  During the first two days we passed only about a dozen soles...  a great antidote for the press of daily life.