Firefall in Yosemite

[Drew Wiley]

The only time I was there - I mean right there - it was totally frozen. And the Valley was nearly vacant. They didn't even bother to plow any turnouts. There was a huge ice cone right under the fall, so me and my nephew hacked our way up there with ice axes. Then I chiseled off the top for a tripod platform for my Sinar and got a couple of very unique shots well up alongside the cliff. Big flakes of frozen ice would break free of the cliffs above and catch the wind and come crashing into the deep snow down below. Then the wind quited down and and a chunk about twenty feet across that must have weighed a couple of tons crashed only about sixty feet away. Time to get out of Dodge; and it was one thrill ride back down with that big pack on!

[John Kasaian]

A hiker got killed by falling rock/ice on the Mist Trail yesterday. Of course the trail had been closed (posted sign & closed gate) Sad.

[Tin Can]

Yes, very sad and happening all over. We elders often set bad examples. I know I have.

Locally in the flatlands of Illinois we lose a number of climbers every year.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area...ity-state-park

A hiker got killed by falling rock/ice on the Mist Trail yesterday. Of course the trail had been closed (posted sign & closed gate) Sad.

[Drew Wiley]

Ha! Randy - I bet if you had access to all the ER statistics, you'd probably discover more people get broken bones from slipping on the front porch shoveling snow in the Midwest each winter than all mountain accidents combined; and even most mtn incidents occur because flatlanders are allowed into the mountains to begin with. Heck, there are already monitored entrance gates to the Parks. Just turn back anyone with Midwestern i.d, plus all tour buses, of course. And real climbers have been known to come down from a particularly difficult climb and slip on some little iced up footbridge at the bottom and break their neck. It's happened more than once. Don't know how I survived all my own youthful stupidity.

[Two23]

I take a lot calculated risks when I go out. Last Sunday drove ~300 miles in a blizzard. Only got stuck in a drift once. My thinking is I'm an adult and take responsibility for myself. Don't need no mommy government to take care of me. The states in my region respect that. My favorite photographer is FJ Haynes from Fargo. I love the fact I can still take adventurous photos like he did. I too am an experienced outdoorsman and go out well equiped. I think knowing I'm on my own in often brutal conditions makes me more careful. I don't have the expectation of a government helicopter coming to the rescue if I get into deep shit.


Kent in SD

[John Kasaian]

My goal these days is not to end up being a poster boy for stupidity LOL!

[Vaughn]

My goal these days is not to end up being a poster boy for stupidity LOL!

I suppose that is why it is not called being a poster man of stupidity -- hopefully we learn (or die). I tend to think that is better (the learning part) than never having pushed it to the edge a few times. Like hiking on a ridge trail in the redwoods during a wind storm...there are time(s) in one's life when that is to be experienced -- hearing branches breaking off 300 feet above you somewhere...dumbass thing to do. But then so was fighting forest fires in the wilderness with a shovel...

[John Kasaian]

I suppose that is why it is not called being a poster man of stupidity -- hopefully we learn (or die). I tend to think that is better (the learning part) than never having pushed it to the edge a few times. Like hiking on a ridge trail in the redwoods during a wind storm...there are time(s) in one's life when that is to be experienced -- hearing branches breaking off 300 feet above you somewhere...dumbass thing to do. But then so was fighting forest fires in the wilderness with a shovel...

Of course, but there are different situations.
That unfortunate hiker also put the crew that had to retrieved her body in peril.
Her indiscretion endangered more than her just own life.
Things fall off cliffs, and that is the nature of the environment but when things are actively falling off cliffs above you, then it's time to get out of Dodge City.

[Drew Wiley]

The most popular Parks inherently attract the largest quantity of Darwin Award types. I took that popular Rae Lakes hike in Kings Can last Sept to keep an eye on an even older friend. We are highly experienced backpackers, so both tended to hand out quite a bit of weather and proper clothing and tent advice to novices. Most were grateful; a couple of young speed hikers were not. Just a week later in the same area another backpacking pal had to spend the whole night pacing in the snow so two ill-equipped ladies could use his tent and sleeping bag; otherwise, they would have been dead long before morning. And it's those know-it-all speed hikers or trail runner that have ruined some of my vacations, having to loan them a spare coat and follow them hobbling out after they twisted and ankle or knee on the trail. I understand the lightwt craze, and even did that kind of thing long before it was popularized. The Indians did it for millennia. They were highly adapted and knew where all kinds of caves and rock shelters were; but nobody knows how many of them got caught out in the open and lost lives. The weather was probably the least of their worries.

[aaronnate]

Crowds or not the full Yosemite experience is on my bucket list.