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Chicken Skinner
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Roger,
The dirt road is the old railroad bed that ends up at Briceburg. Parts of it are washed out.
Because the river is designated Wild and Scenic they are not allowed to alter anything. If they blast the hillside they have to remove the debris. They are not allowed to put pipes in the river, it wouldn't work anyway, because they would get crushed and displaced. The experts are saying there is roughly 3 million cubic yards of material yet to come down and a worst case scenario is a 300 foot dam when it does. We are not allowed to get anywhere near it now so there will be no more pictures from me. I did get over 350 photos. Mariposa County is now in a state of emergency.
PG&E re-routed the electrical during the last 2 days and fried two generators when they bypassed the electric. We just got our power back at 5:00 am.
Ken
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Yeah Chicken Skinner and TradIsGood, I suppose you are both right. Engineering was never my strong point, nor physics.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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The Yosemite West Proporties and Homeowners web site posts updates as they are issued by Lee Stetson, the Mariposa County Supervisor for District 1. You can read the latest here:
http://www.yosemitewest.org/news.htm
Man that thing is Krazy. How much is 3 million cubic yards anyway?
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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300 yards by 100 yards by 100 yards = 3 million cubic yards.
60 football fields 30 feet high.
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Barbara Milazzo
climber
Mariposa
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Hello, I am new to this page. I have studied the topography of the slide area. The Merced River is at 1400', Savages Trading Post is at 1450', and El Portal headquarters is at 1919'. El Portal is aproximately 10 miles up river. El Portal is 509' higher than the river is at the slide. Unless the slide is greater than 510' El Portal is not in any danger what so ever. In addition, the South Fork of the Merced River branches off at Savages, above the slide, and it is a good 10 miles up river in that canyon before the river reaches 1900'. Any volume of uncompacted slide debris will fail to hold enough water for a significant back up. It is the potential catastrophic failure of the dammed up river and subsequent flash flood below that is the real issue. Also, the shear displacement of water if the slide comes down in MASS is likely to create a tidal wave like effect in the river. Savages could be effected by this and the shock wave of air. So could bystanders! Another good web site for photos is http://www.mariposacounty.org/sheriff/Rock%20Slide%20May%2029%202006.htm
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Fluoride
Trad climber
California somewhere
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2006 - 01:19am PT
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Thanks for the details Barbara. How are you guys faring there in Mariposa? Would be interesting to hear how this is impacting you from a local standpoint.
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Barbara Milazzo
climber
Mariposa
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Many busineses are struggling. Particularly the hotels. Last Weekend was good for some because Merced and other valley folks came up to spend money as a gesture. This is GREAT but I am sure the sentiment will fade before the road opens. It is the park employees who are suffering with the insane drive to work. The El Portal employees especially. Most have a 2 1/2 hour commute one way. Some have a 3 hour commute one way. Our county has only one comprehensive highschool and one comprehensive middle school so many students who live in El Portal or Yosemite Valley have a HUGE commute every day, 5 hours on a school bus on mountain roads. Some have moved in with friends in town to finish the school year. School is out next Wednesday so that issue will be releaved, until August when school begins again.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
California somewhere
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 8, 2006 - 08:20pm PT
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Those poor schoolkids, I hadn't even thought about the families up there. Thanks for the firsthand account. Sounds like life is really throwing you guys some curve balls right now up in Mariposa. A lot of us are pulling for you guys....just wish we could do more to help.
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nature
climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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YES! my wrath is at play here! Nature WILL win!
Awesome photos - many thanks for the updates.
I'm wondering about the "experts" on scene. In grad school I took a Hillslope and Fluvial Processes course from Andre Lehre - I'm wondering if he's by chance one of the experts on scene. I'm sure he's getting a kick out of Nature's (MY!) wrath!
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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Make lemonade.
You've got a new natural attraction!
Movie rights?
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Lineman
Trad climber
Mariposa Ca
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We finnaly finished up rerouting the line this week and are now trying to figure out what to do if the canyon floods.
Our planned outage for the valley did not go as hoped,Optimistic management does not make digging in rock on a slope easier!
Our generators did not hold up as planned,Failed voltage regulators, fuel filters and and alot of load and heat took there toll.The 4 transmission crews did a fantastic job in bad conditions.The stories they tell of the earth moving as they stood next to the tower by the slide will make your hair stand up.Stringing wire while dangling 200 ft below a helicopter made up for that though,they get a kick out of it!They flew in the final span with two birds, heli marker balls and all!
Ill try to keep up with events in the canyon.Im of to the next project in coasegold.
Mark
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Barbara Milazzo
climber
Mariposa
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Mark, do you have any pictures of the line stringing? WOW!
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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Pictures?!
How many photographers visit Yosemite each year to take pictures of things that never really see much change except for the lighting. (OK, waterfall volume changes, but...)
I bet a lot of photographers could find some good stuff here. And they might even drink lemonade. :)
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Lineman
Trad climber
Mariposa Ca
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I will try to get some,I was not there for that part of the opperation,Access is very limited during air opps.
posting pics is beyond my skill with a "puter" though.
Mark
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rockermike
Mountain climber
Berkeley
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sounds like a good time for a traffic free bike ride up 140. Hey locals, any chance there is a "work around" (or walk around) to get past the slide with a bike on one's shoulder? Any bridges up/and or down river? How are people getting those photos?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jun 10, 2006 - 01:27am PT
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I can be at the Pizza Deck tomorrow [Saturday] night if anyone wants to get together for beers.
Cheers,
Pete
P.S. Great photos! Glad I'm on this side of the rockfall. Apparently the power was out in Yosemite for some time, which explained why my cell phone didn't work on the wall.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jun 10, 2006 - 02:03am PT
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Like, they sell beer at lunchtime, eh? [HINT]
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jun 10, 2006 - 02:16am PT
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Ooops. Sorry, mate. I'm in Yosemite on the other side of the slide. Catch you next time, eh?
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Barbara Milazzo
climber
Mariposa
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Jun 10, 2006 - 02:42am PT
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Jody, you'll have to eat at either Take and Bake (my recommendation)or Pizza Plus because Pizza Factory (my favorite) was closed a couple of months ago due to a collapse of the historic Trabucco Wherehouse. They shared an unstable wall and it is possible the wall could fall in on customers. We thought life was bad when that happened. Now it is much tougher. Oddly, a week or two before Trabucco fell there was a big (we thought at the time)slide on the dirt road from the Briceburg bridge down river. It cut off access to all the river campgrounds. Now other businesses are closing due to the economy. A lot of collapses. It is too odd. Thanks for visiting our town. We need it!!!
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Robb
Social climber
Flathead Valley, Montana
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Jun 10, 2006 - 02:25pm PT
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Hey Barb
You don't happen to be the Barbara that worked at the Mountain Shop way back when do you?
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