rock silde 5 hours ago in Yosemite valley

[John Kasaian]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/10/three-hurt-in-s.html

[John Kasaian]

oOps! I got the time wrong---apparently the slide was this morning around 7:00AM.

[Bruce Watson]

IIRC, John Muir was in the valley during an earth quake which resulted in lots of rock slides (he was actually the first to suggest that that's how the big rock piles came into being -- from earthquakes, not glaciation). His response of course was to go scrambling up the new rock piles before they even got settled. I suspect that he was an adrenalin junkie. ;)

Rock falls and slides are a fact of life in a valley like this. Every time I visit the mountains I count myself lucky to avoid accidents like rock falls. But I keep going back. The risk is small while the rewards are quite large indeed.

[Vaughn]

Must be global warming;) :p

Good that no one was hurt this time.

I was sitting on the edge of the Abyss, a 1000' vertical drop on the edge of the Grand Canyon, looking down at the Tonto Trail I was hiking on a few days earlier. I saw a chunk of rock fall off the top of the Abyss -- probably the size of a pick-up truck -- it fell straight down, then roared across the Tonto Plateau (which the trail runs along) easily going well over 100 MPH. Too fast for anyone to get out of the way of. Impressive. I was lucky to see it -- and lucky by a few days not to be seeing it from an unfortunate point of view.

Vaughn

[David Karp]

I was there once when a "small" slide happened. It was loud! Lots of dust in the air. Pretty scary, even though I was pretty far away.

We missed the big one in the late 90's by a day. Glad for that.

My family did not get to go to Yosemite this summer for the first time in years. I sure miss it. (But we did go last winter - Maybe this one too?)

[shmoo]

It's such a wonderful time of the year to be in Yosemite Valley, too. I'm just glad that no one was killed in this slide...although it was awfully close to some pretty populated areas.

[Alan Davenport]

Glad no one was hurt.

I think Yellowstone still holds the record.

[Frank Petronio]

It's GW Bush's fault

[Greg Lockrey]

It's GW Bush's fault

Not supposed to get political.... :rolleyes:

Isn't there a big volcano there waiting to explode?

[David Karp]

Isn't there a big volcano there waiting to explode?

Nope. That is Yellowstone.

[Turner Reich]

It's called the Yellowstone Caldera.

[John Kasaian]

IIRC Mammoth also has a caldera---yikes!

I am glad the rock slide didn't take out the cappuccino bar at Curry.! wonder if that old pioneer cabin behind the Camp Curry swimming pool survived? Does anyone here know?

[Michael Gordon]

Isn't there a big volcano there waiting to explode?

It's called the Long Valley Caldera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Valley_Caldera).

[Greg Lockrey]

It's called the Yellowstone Caldera.


IIRC Mammoth also has a caldera---yikes!

I am glad the rock slide didn't take out the cappuccino bar at Curry.! wonder if that old pioneer cabin behind the Camp Curry swimming pool survived? Does anyone here know?


It's called the Long Valley Caldera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Valley_Caldera).

Thanks guys, I was remembering something like that from my days of studying Geophysics in the 60's.

[Rakesh Malik]

Volcanoes, lahars, and avalanches are part of the joy of living in the Pacific Northwest, too... we owe our spectacular scenery and majestic trees to those volcanoes whose shadows we live in... and whose landslide debris we live ON...

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh? :)

[Bill_1856]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/20/MN224367.DTL

...if you are out photographing...and you get killed just remember that death is just part of the outdoor experience.

Ah, Dakotah, you have penned the mantra of life.

[Brian_A]

Volcanoes, lahars, and avalanches are part of the joy of living in the Pacific Northwest, too... we owe our spectacular scenery and majestic trees to those volcanoes whose shadows we live in... and whose landslide debris we live ON...

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh? :)


Oh come on, you forgot earthquakes :D

[Rakesh Malik]

Oh come on, you forgot earthquakes :D

D'oh! You're right, I did! :eek:

Oh well, you can't win 'em all... at least we don't get as many earthquakes as LA though. And we're upwind of Yellowstone, and we're not in the line of fire of the hurricanes and tornadoes. So at least we have SOMETHING going in our favor ;)

[Drew Wiley]

Earthquakes are actually rather rare on the western slope of the Sierra, which includes
Yosemite Valley. Something really big on the east side might pass through, but the
vast majority of rockslides are simple exfoliation from long-term expansion/contraction
and frost wedging of the joints in the granite. For awhile sonic booms were a much greater hazard to climbers in Yosemite than earthquakes. The last time I was actually
awakened by a quick jolt up in the granite it turned out to be the last underground
A-bomb test north of Vegas, at least 200 miles away!

[Preston]

Here's a short article about the aftermath of the Yosemite rockfalls, from our local news website MyMotherLode.com...

"Majority Of Curry Village Will Remain Closed Following Rockslides
Saturday, November 22, 2008

BJ Hansen
MML News Reporter

Yosemite, Ca -- Many of the visitor accommodations in Yosemite National Park's Curry Village were shut down following a pair of rockslides occurring early last month, and the majority will remain that way on a permanent basis.

“It is purely based on a geologic assessment,” says Yosemite Spokesperson Scott Gediman. “Based on the history and potential of rocks falling, the decision was made to close these units because of the hazard and risk to park visitors.”

233 visitor accommodations (tent cabins, cabins with bath, cabins w/o bath) will be closed permanently. It will also result in the closure of associated visitor support structures (shower houses, restrooms, etc.) Additionally, 43 concessioner employee housing units will be closed down."

This is sorta like the old saying.."You can't rollerskate in a buffaloe herd!" :-)

-Preston

[John Kasaian]

Preston,
Any word about all that new employee housing they have been building at Camp Curry? Are they gonna close it before they open it up?

It's danged embarrasing to misspell a word in the title of a thread and have to watch it spring back to life every so often!

[Preston]

I don't know, John. I'll keep an eye out for any more info on the subject.

I've climbed a lot on the Apron and have seen some good sized rocks go by in the fast lane. I'm sure that climber traffic on the Apron has been much reduced of late. Scary stuff!

-P

[Keith S. Walklet]

John,

The new employee housing at Curry has been open since last year and was not within the critical area affected by the closure.

My understanding is that the employee housing included in the closure is seasonal (tents) located just below the apron, an area called the Terrace, where my wife first lived when she arrived in the park. It is a picturesque area with tents situated among house-sized boulders deposited by a prehistoric rockfall. With the increased rockfall activity, it's closure is not surprising.

The accommodations affected are cabins without bath (WOBs) and the showerhouse that served them, and some of the historic cabins with bath (WIBs).

The bottom line with the closure is that there are fewer rustic accommodations available, which means folks will need to plan ahead a little further if they are looking for more economical in-Valley accommodations. FWIW, reservations are taken 366 days in advance for the hotels.