YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) - Climbing Yosemite's Half Dome is one of the national park system's most iconic hikes in the nationwide system, but fewer people are going to be able to scale the granite monolith.

The National Park Service on Friday announced approval of a plan to permanently limit the number of hikers who can tackle Half Dome to 400 a day.

That is the same maximum number of daily hiking permits Yosemite officials have issued since 2010 under an interim plan that was put into place to reduce congestion and make the steep trek safer.

The park also decided to keep in place the metal cables that hikers can use on the 45-degree final ascent up the slick granite.

Over the past decade, up to 1,200 hikers a day had crowded the route.

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