Tangerine Trip Rockfall pitch 2

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Lambone

Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 12, 2017 - 09:17pm PT
::::WARNING! T-TRIP start affected by ACTIVE ROCKFALL:::::

Large chunks of pitch 2 have fallen off or are about to.

Two days ago we met Hayden and Conner hobbling down from the Trip. A large block pulled out on Conner leading P2, in the corner past the hook move traverse. It glanced his head and smashed his ankle. He narrowly avoided getting the Chop.

Yesterday at 6pm from ZM I watched a 20-30ft tall chunk depart from the wall under the big roof just left of the Trip start and explode onto the 5.7 free section ramp on Pitch 2.

The forest directly below the Trip was bombarded with huge chunks of talus.

Today we talked to Hayden who had just been up p2 to retrieve his gear and he reported a massive chunk of rock on the route groaning like it was ready to go. He had to do some shenanigans to get off the pitch safely and looked white as a ghost.

Beware around the base and it would be wise to take the LIA/Virginia start.

We bailed off ZM after multiple rocks came wizzing past us, one landing right next to my head on the portaledge.

El Cap is awake, and the Boss was telling us to bounce.
shipoopoi

Big Wall climber
oakland
Oct 12, 2017 - 09:42pm PT
great warning matt, could save life. ss
Lambone

Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 12, 2017 - 10:03pm PT
I really fear for the unsuspecting party who may be plotting on the Trip.
mcreel

climber
Barcelona
Oct 12, 2017 - 10:53pm PT
It's in general very difficult to extract conclusions about causality from non-experimental time series data, and I imagine that this goes for rock fall data, too. Is there a specific cause, or is it just pure chance which seems to us like it must have a cause because of our short period of reference? Nevertheless, I too would be happy to hear from the geologists.
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Oct 12, 2017 - 11:29pm PT
Greg Stock has expressed interest in monitoring active rockfall (if feasible).
Signs could also be placed on the approach.
anita514

Gym climber
Great White North
Oct 13, 2017 - 04:18am PT
Wow, scary.
Maybe I should be rethinking my El Cap plans for the end of the month :(
gstock

climber
Yosemite Valley
Oct 13, 2017 - 05:57am PT
Thanks for the report. I'll check it out today and let the climbing rangers know. Please continue to spread the word.

As for whether there is something unique going on at El Cap, I tend to think not, given the overall rockfall history of the Valley. However, it is certainly worth monitoring, which my colleagues and are doing with remote sensing methods.

I'll post more on this later, but we have been able to quantify (reliably detect and measure) rockfalls from the southeast face of El Capitan going back 41 years, and we find that there have been 64 rockfalls over that time period. That's an average of 1.6 rockfalls per year, though they tend to occur in clusters.

Greg Stock
Park Geologist
(209) 379-1420
greg_stock@nps.gov
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
Oct 13, 2017 - 07:09am PT
Wow, maybe avoid that side of El Cap for a while?

BAd
Lambone

Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 13, 2017 - 07:17am PT
There are parties on the Zod now and people moving through that area as usual. I'd just move quickly through the Trip forest. You can see the fresh shrapnel scars all over the place in there, right along the trail. I'd also recommend hugging the wall up by ZM/Zod as I saw several boulders from way up high come down and land near the trail in the last few days.

I forgot to mention that Hayden did notify the climbing rangers, and he let Tom know. He'll probly chime in here once he gets online. I didn't want to tell his story for him but he had quite the rowdy experience.
errett

Social climber
Grumpy Ridge
Oct 13, 2017 - 07:36am PT
Probably caused by that pin I slammed in up there 40 years ago. I apologize.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
Oct 13, 2017 - 07:47pm PT

As usual, thanks to Greg Stock!!!
drF

Trad climber
usa
Oct 13, 2017 - 07:58pm PT
Looks like the East side of the Cap is very 'Active'

You people got big onions for going anywhere near there.

Best of vibes to ya'll but I'd say shut it down for the year.

Be safe!
anita514

Gym climber
Great White North
Oct 16, 2017 - 05:07pm PT
Heard from Pete that 4 big chunks the size of small houses peeled off to the L of Zodiac, around the 3rd/4th pitch of ZM...

Heading there to do Zodiac in 10 days. Thinking we need a Plan B :/
BLUEBLOCR

Social climber
joshua tree
Oct 16, 2017 - 05:30pm PT
HUUUUUGE!!!! Atleast the size of 5 houses.
Here's some before and after shots.

11:47am yesterday 😉

5:03pm today
anita514

Gym climber
Great White North
Oct 16, 2017 - 05:42pm PT
Be safe guys
Gagner

climber
Boulder
Oct 16, 2017 - 07:33pm PT
Looks to me like the Lightning Bolt roofs are missing.....
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Oct 16, 2017 - 07:58pm PT
Wow. Greg, can't wait to hear your team's assessment.
Mark Hudon

Trad climber
On the road.
Oct 16, 2017 - 08:32pm PT
It looks like a lot of scarring right below the 9 O’clock Roof.
BLUEBLOCR

Social climber
joshua tree
Oct 16, 2017 - 09:35pm PT
Here's a few more. Dang I watched the whole thing. It was like it was slow motion, it was soooo big.




'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
Oct 16, 2017 - 10:56pm PT
It was pretty terrifying to watch. We got a good clear view. There was a guy at the base of Zenyatta by the boulder when it fell, but the wall is so overhanging the rockfall cleared him, hitting halfway between the wall and the Christmas trees.

That crazy bugger went into the rockfall zone, and we screamed as loud as we could to GTFO now now now because more would be coming down, so he ran back to the base. And instead of waiting a few days to clear his gear from the first pitch, he actually jugged up and then rapped down. We couldn't believe our eyes.

Lambone saw it well from Zodiac. This one kind of spooked me this afternoon, and I had the shakes for a while. I feel better now that it's dark and I'm cuddled up in my D4 portaledge.

"it was soooo big."


That's what she said.
Messages 1 - 20 of total 64 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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