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Half Dome Dominating the upper end of the Valley is Half Dome, a rock formation that is both striking and unique. It summit is 4,748 ft (nearly a mile) above the valley floor and 8,842 ft above sea level. The summit was first reached during a difficult climb to its 13-acre top in summer via a cable trail up the east side of the dome. Its sheer 2,000 foot cliff was fashioned by Ice Age glaciers that quarried away fractured rock slabs until only the great unbroken cliff remained. Yosemite's Indians called it Ti-sa-ack, after the principal character in one of their legends. Vertical black streaks on the cliff face are formed by lichen and algae. They grow along courses followed by water from rain and melting snow as it falls to the valley floor. With a little imagination, you can see these stains, shaped like a woman's head in profile -- some say that it is Tissaack, herself.
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