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Synchronicity
Trad climber
British Columbia, Canada
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Looks sketch sketchy....
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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There have been other, smaller rockfalls at that exact same spot in the past 10 years. One time I was climbing with Tim at Hetch Hetchy Dome and a small rockfall happened there. Later, when we went to hike back to the car, there was some tape across the trail. Of course we hurried a bit through the fresh section!
I have a 2005 photo showing almost the same active talus slope, also showing those 2 trees in the middle of it. They are gone now.
In the grey rock above the left side of the fresh slope, there is actually an offwidth splitter. In spite of the occasional rockfall from above, it's still intact. It would take a huge impact to move the giant slab on the right side of the offwidth. I imagine it may have been something like a tree which pried off the initial blocks above the fresh talus. Then later failures from the same source area.
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stuv
climber
NL
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interesting, thanks for posting!
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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From the link above:
A rockfall in the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite National Park closes trail east of Wapama Falls.
At approximately 1:30 p.m. on March 31, a large rockfall occurred from the cliff just east of Wapama Falls above the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. No visitors were injured. However, the trail was closed just east of the Wapama Creek footbridges for safety purposes, and due to boulders preventing access beyond Wapama Falls.
Roughly 16,000 tons (5,500 cubic meters) of rock fell from a source about 500 feet (150 meters) above the base of the cliff. Rock debris hit the slope below the cliff, breaking into numerous boulders, crushing trees, and creating a small dust cloud. Fresh boulders completely covered the slope, and many boulders tumbled into the reservoir. Roughly 400 feet (120 meters) of the Rancheria Falls Trail were destroyed in the main impact area.
Hikers can still access Wapama Falls starting from the O'Shaughnessy Dam. The trail to Rancheria Falls just after Wapama Falls will be closed until further notice. The park is working to reopen the trail at a later date.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Mother Nature doing a little maintenance.
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Sheets
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Always seems like the opposite of maintenance to me. Even something as awesome as the cliffs of Yosemite are going to disintegrate into rubble someday.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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I'm gonna get the first ascent of that new brown spot
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Grippa
Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Greg Stock we're looking forward to your lecture here at the U this week!
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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I'm gonna get the first ascent of that new brown spot
That thought occurred to me, too, now that I'm old and have nothing to live for. I really wish, though, that I could have had the last ascent of that block before it fell. FA's come a dime a dozen, but how many can say that made a last ascent?
John
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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There goes my proj.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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That thought occurred to me, too, now that I'm old and have nothing to live for. I really wish, though, that I could have had the last ascent of that block before it fell. FA's come a dime a dozen, but how many can say that made a last ascent?
That's why I want to do more crappy new routes in remote areas, then I get the first and last!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Crabby, you'll have to do better than HH for "remote."
Any candy-ass can drive there.
(Even the Chuff), "he said with a grin."
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Any candy-ass can drive there. But it's such a LONG walk across the dam, through the tunnel and along the far side. Can't belay from the bumper.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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One serious question. When they say the area is closed, does that mean that it would be illegal (rather than merely off trail) to approach Hetch Hetchy Dome from the bottom?
John
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tithaf
Trad climber
Sierra Madre, CA
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Hi Greg et al.
The NASA JPL/Caltech Airborne Snow Observatory mapped the entire Tuolumne above O'Shaughnessy on 23 March 2014 and then on 7 April 2014 (delay due to the storms). Our lidar data have point density of about 1.4/m^2 at that elevation, so we should have a fantastic map of the change in cliff face and talus/boulder field along with what trundling of vegetation ensued.
Will post the imagery here soon-
Tom Painter
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Thanks for the share QITNL. Wonderful pics! And I love my new camera!
Cheers, Lynne
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Crabby, you'll have to do better than HH for "remote."
Any candy-ass can drive there.
Ha! Little misunderstanding, I want to do more crappy FA's in OTHER more remote areas, not Hetch Hetchy. Of course I mean after I get the FA of the new scar!
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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The NASA JPL/Caltech Airborne Snow Observatory mapped the entire Tuolumne above O'Shaughnessy on 23 March 2014 and then on 7 April 2014 (delay due to the storms). Our lidar data have point density of about 1.4/m^2 at that elevation, so we should have a fantastic map of the change in cliff face and talus/boulder field along with what trundling of vegetation ensued.
Very cool.
Data! Data! Data!
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Apr 10, 2014 - 08:58am PT
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Fantastic Tom! You're timing couldn't have been better. I'll email you for more info.
Greg
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