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climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 16, 2015 - 07:11am PT
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The Tuolumne Meadows Gas Station and Shop will close for good on 9/15/15. All buildings and infrastructure will be removed.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jul 16, 2015 - 07:15am PT
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What happened?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 16, 2015 - 07:24am PT
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Is closing the road also part of the 'masterplan'? Why go about it half-assed?
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jul 16, 2015 - 07:28am PT
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Not far from there a bear walked right through our camp while the stove was open and cooking. Didn't say much for our diet that it preferred to go to the trash bins.
That's about it on the web.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jul 16, 2015 - 07:31am PT
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Though particular about food, to the bear, one building is the same as another. :-)
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Jul 16, 2015 - 07:59am PT
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Really... the Gassaneering building ...
I have to agree.. many Fantastic memories........
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 16, 2015 - 09:13am PT
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Mike Brown. Where is he? Still in Mammoth? I miss that guy.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jul 16, 2015 - 09:18am PT
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Why go about it half-assed?, asks Reilly.
It's the park service, Jake.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jul 16, 2015 - 09:22am PT
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Fantastic! Five dollar gas and ramshackle construction ( the store) won't be missed.
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10b4me
Social climber
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Jul 16, 2015 - 09:44am PT
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What's next, the store, and the Grille?
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 16, 2015 - 10:35am PT
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Is closing the road also part of the 'masterplan'? Why go about it half-assed?
Those of us with very long memories remember the opposition of the Sierra Club to the building of the new Tioga Road. While I, for one, am glad I don't have to weave my way through Dark Hole and down from Snow Flat to Tenaya Lake, I do miss the general courtesy that drivers maintained on that old road. Road rage didn't exist there - unless the driver was enraged at the road itself, rather than other drivers. Of course, one-day trips up Tenaya Peak from Fresno were not in order, either.
John
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Trashman
Trad climber
SLC
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Jul 16, 2015 - 10:46am PT
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^ Now that sounds like a fun time!
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Jul 16, 2015 - 11:29am PT
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Those of us with very long memories remember the opposition of the Sierra Club to the building of the new Tioga Road.
John, where did the old road go? Was it basically the same as the present one?
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 16, 2015 - 11:46am PT
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John, where did the old road go? Was it basically the same as the present one?
Not really, Jaaan. Portions of it are still in use in close to their original condition -- the road to Snow Flat (the start of the trail to May Lake), and that to the Yosemite Creek campground remain. From Yosemite Creek, it wound upward (past Dark Hole, among other places) to rejoin the current route near its last turn out of the Yosemite Creek drainage, but the path of the old road is difficult to see there. From there to the Snow Flat turnoff the new road pretty much parallels the route of the old road, with some deviations around Porcupine Creek, but the part of the new road from the May Lake turnoff to Pywiak Dome is new. Olmstead Point was not on the old road, and the old road went on the other side of Tenaya Lake, hidden in the forest.
You can see part of the old road as a trail coming in just before reaching Tenaya Lake traveling eastbound. Imagine a modern RV trying to negotiate that!
The road east of Tioga Pass was improved later in the 1960's. It was quite exciting before its improvement.
John
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 16, 2015 - 12:25pm PT
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part of the new road from the May Lake turnoff to Pywiak Dome is new. Olmstead Point was not on the old road, and the old road went on the other side of Tenaya Lake, hidden in the forest.
You can see part of the old road as a trail coming in just before reaching Tenaya Lake traveling eastbound. Imagine a modern RV trying to negotiate that!
Thanks for the info. I just got on Google Earth and you can actually see parts of the old road if you look closely. It looks like it was quite an adventure.
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Fan
climber
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Jul 16, 2015 - 01:27pm PT
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Our first trip to Tuolumne was during the controversy over the road. Parts of it were one way traffic. What I remember vividly was being the bait for the mosquitoes at Tenaya Lake. Would modern cars put up with white gas (for the Coleman) when poor planning necessitated its use to avoid the high prices at the gas station?
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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Jul 16, 2015 - 03:10pm PT
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Fan
climber
Jul 16, 2015 - 01:27pm PT
Would modern cars put up with white gas (for the Coleman) when poor planning necessitated its use to avoid the high prices at the gas station?
White gas is light Naftha and some Hexane ( actually includes a mix from C5 to C9) , so yeah , but probably you would get engine knock or ping since it is low octane. I actually did it once, but I think that car was before computerized ignition. That was in the petrified forest when it was 40 mi to the only gas station and got there just as it was closing.
Newer cars might actually work better, since they will adjust timing with the oxygen sensor, and there aren't heavy metals in it, so it probably wouldn't wreck your catalytic converter. But you might have to reset your 'check engine' light when you get to a fill up. You do have an OBDII dongle, right?
Gas mileage would probably suck. Save it for dire emergencies.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 17, 2015 - 08:19am PT
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Ramshackle construction ha ha.
Ramshackle culture too!
The usual suspects behind the gas station/mountain school, standing in front of the RAT ROOM.
Messick, Brossman, Ashworth, Kerr, Hawkins
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Jul 17, 2015 - 08:19am PT
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Olmstead Point was not on the old road, and the old road went on the other side of Tenaya Lake, hidden in the forest.
@ John. This is just so interesting! Using Google I can see 'Tenaya Lake Trail' running along the SE side of the lake - which I take to be the old road? But HOW did it avoid Olmstead Point? Zooming right in I can see a trail/path downhill from Olmstead point sort of paralleling the modern road - is that it?
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tornado
climber
lawrence kansas
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Jul 17, 2015 - 08:23am PT
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whoa moustaches.
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Gary
Social climber
From A Buick 6
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Jul 17, 2015 - 08:56am PT
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Tuolumne Meadows free shuttle stops 9/2016 for good. The prospectus does allow for a "fee or free" shuttle to be operated at the expense of Concessioner. NPS may have a plan to fund but there is no public info available
Wow.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Jul 17, 2015 - 09:16am PT
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That place was home base for me and will forever be a sweetspot in my mind.
I still have my keys to the gas station bathroom and YMS, even though I never was employed by either entity, other than under the table "contract" work by Boss Brossman.
I wonder if the keys still work?
Bill Frye & 1982 gas prices, seemed really high at the time.
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Mtbphoto
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, Ca
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Jul 17, 2015 - 12:37pm PT
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@ John. This is just so interesting! Using Google I can see 'Tenaya Lake Trail' running along the SE side of the lake - which I take to be the old road? But HOW did it avoid Olmstead Point? Zooming right in I can see a trail/path downhill from Olmstead point sort of paralleling the modern road - is that it? I have hiked the old road from the May Lake parking lot, you go north and then it winds around south toward the shore of Tenaya, you can still see some pavement and bunch cuts. There is a trail marker there and a bus stop nearby
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 17, 2015 - 12:44pm PT
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I have hiked the old road from the May Lake parking lot, you go north and then it winds around south toward the shore of Tenaya, you can still see some pavement and bunch cuts. There is a trail marker there and a bus stop nearby
Correct. The old road crosses the current road between Olmstead Point and Tenaya Lake. Incidentally, the old road was a sufficient deterrent to large-scale automobile traffic to justify a High Sierra Camp at Tenaya Lake BITD.
John
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Gary
Social climber
From A Buick 6
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Jul 17, 2015 - 01:01pm PT
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Next time you're in LA you'll have to take some time to hike up the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. Don't do it on a weekend, bungee jumpers have taken over. Go early and you'll probably see big horns up above the bridge.
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Jul 17, 2015 - 01:06pm PT
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The old road crosses the current road between Olmstead Point and Tenaya Lake.
OK, got it now I think. In fact where it cuts the new road it's actually heading SSE. Seem to lose it once it gets to the E of the new road.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 17, 2015 - 01:17pm PT
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I love old road beds, dunno why.
Me, too -- obviously.
John
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Gary
Social climber
From A Buick 6
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Jul 17, 2015 - 01:22pm PT
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Cool! What's that cable thingie I see above the bridge?
Not sure, but it might be leftover from the patented claim below, or maybe used during construction. They hadn't finished the tunnel the bridge leads into when the big flood of 1938 hit, wiping everything but the bridge out.
Easy hike, 10 miles roundtrip, 1000' of gain. Your feet will get wet. Nelson big horns come down in the morning and afternoon to drink from the river. Native rainbows, too.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jul 17, 2015 - 02:42pm PT
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Famous Bridge to Nowhere. No ramshackle construction here. It will stand forever. Sorta like Alice's Restaurant.
Not Jody, Obie.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Jul 17, 2015 - 03:42pm PT
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How many here remember the 1980 General Management Plan?
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jul 22, 2015 - 06:46am PT
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Tuolumne Gas Station to be replaced by cell phone charging station. It will be solar however.
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mastadon
Trad climber
crack addict
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Jul 22, 2015 - 07:33am PT
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Do you have a way to get in touch with Bill Frey??
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Jul 22, 2015 - 08:08am PT
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So no fuel in Yos anymore?
edit: Lee Vining rates will be going up.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Jul 22, 2015 - 05:00pm PT
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Mr. Harder, I sent Bill's contact via your personal email.
Here are some other pics taken of the kitchen area of the gas station.
Messing around with Pinky while I should have been working on Bill's truck that he let me live in.
Earning my keep with can recycling, Big Bill Critchlow supervising.
Those cans were as good as a $10 bill as far as I was concerned.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Jul 22, 2015 - 07:37pm PT
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Brown-eyed handsome man wears a Budwieser ad? Why is it that we've never seen a photo of Tobia without pretty women?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 22, 2015 - 09:02pm PT
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Nice Tobia!
Critchlow and Pinky in all their archival glory.
The ramshackle YMS guide's kiosk, south wall of the TM gas station, 1986:
choose your fearless leader wisely ...
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 22, 2015 - 09:34pm PT
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Nadim!
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Jul 22, 2015 - 09:43pm PT
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*
Tarbuster..Who is in the Celica next to Nadim..........RIP.
Tobia, Fun Pictures....
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Jul 23, 2015 - 03:10am PT
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**
zb,
1. If the shirt fits, wear it.
2. Photoshop.
Pinky and Baby Brossman behind TMCC.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 23, 2015 - 07:40am PT
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What's that little mini-Brossman's name? Libby?
I remember Bruce used to bring up her little pink bike with handlebar streamers. Remember he did a lot of road riding in those days. She was too cute tooling around on her own wheels.
*
Nita, Dunno who that gal in the Brown Celica is.
'Gotta love a man in uniform though ...
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10b4me
Social climber
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Jul 23, 2015 - 08:28am PT
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Sometime in the early nineties, a friend and I were coming back from Cathedral Peak. We stopped in the mountain shop for something. Doug Niveder was giving beta to someone about a climb. Doug, in describing the crux move said " if you pitch, you sail". Always thought that was funny.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 23, 2015 - 09:13am PT
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A lot of living happened behind that gas station!
Early/mid 1990s:
Ed Barry
Yerian, getting a haircut from Karine:
McDevitt feeding the people:
Sue Bonavitch and Ashworth:
Dan, Sue, Peter, Karine:
TM, Sue, Tarbuster, Stockwell:
(not) Walleye, Messick, Eddie, Sabine, Croft
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Jul 23, 2015 - 12:39pm PT
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Tarbuster,
The little darling's name was Libby.
The "Little King" made life back there interesting. Stockwell had a mustache when I knew him.
I'm trying to remember all the guides in 1982:
Boss Brockman ran the circus.
Bill Frye assisted the ring master.
Barbara _ store clerk
Ed Barry
Al Bartlett
Bill Critchlow
Chris Falkenstein
Don Reid
Rick Stockwell (survival training)
Peter Mayfield maybe
Derk ___(?)
Mike White was a permanent fixture; but I can't remember if he was guiding.
Mastadon was the card dealer in the late night poker games.
I was just a drifter, seeking shelter from the wind.
Anyone know the year that the station opened up?
I meant to say Libby. Liz was a Freudian slip. I fixed it.
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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Jul 23, 2015 - 12:46pm PT
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*
Mr Tobia...
Tarbuster was correct..it is Libby..... and she just got married this year...Big three-oh's
How did the time fly by so quickly.......
edit:Hey Wally, Where will the Mountain School be located...in the Valley again?
ps..Andy and i will be in El Portal Sept.13th for Erin's Memorial.....Hope we cross paths..
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 23, 2015 - 02:41pm PT
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I cannot imagine guiding in Yosemite without the sweet respite of summers in TM.
Bachar
Carter, Tommy Herbert, Clevenger:
Carter, Doug MacDonald:
pictures from the mid-1980s
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 23, 2015 - 02:53pm PT
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I remember the day Mike White retired. Burnout could happen!
Whitey is such a classic character. 'Even announced his retirement with a bit of disgust and also a certain panache.
My first guided route in the Valley was an all free, no falls ascent of Astroman with Navy SEALs in tow, on jumars. 1982. (w/bivi). At the time, Brossman deemed me too young to guide for YMS (!), but he admitted none of his guides would do that route guided in that style (what about Barry fer crissakes? Mayfield probably not on the roster that year. Stein probably didn't care... anyway that's what Bruce said) ... So Alan Bartlett brokered the deal for me between YMS and California Mountaineering and up we went with Bruce's permission.
In 1986 I became an employee of MCA/YMS.
My first guided route "on the books" was Higher Cathedral Spire, in the middle of convalescence for patellar tendinitis. I had to use a cane and took 20 ibuprofen that day.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Jul 23, 2015 - 03:17pm PT
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I liked Dirk. He showed me respect, before I earned it. He was there guiding in 1982 for sure.
Yes, Dirk ... what was his last name?
We have a supertopo poster named Dirka ... I don't think it's him and I never asked.
*Barbara _ store clerk
That would have been Barbara Barahona
A quote from this thread from 2010:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1333534&msg=1333534#msg1333534
Barbara Barahona (former name, now Tess McLeod), who owns Blue Heron Sports shop in the town of Mariposa
[EDIT]
ha ha. These memories are like old roadbed now.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Jul 31, 2015 - 03:00pm PT
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Great photos!
Roy-- Climbing Astroman with belayers who paid for the privilege: now that's a sweet guiding gig!
I can't remember if the gas station was around during my first summer up there, 1973, but I doubt it. I am pretty certain the mountaineering shop was not.
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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YMS must have been where the visitor center is now for just a year or two. In 1968 Harding took refuge there after the rescue. While hanging out with him, my buddy and I got kicked out by an uptight ranger who said dogs were not allowed. Never-mind we had hiked from the valley with the dog.
In 1969, YMS operated out of the concrete-floored tent nearest the back dock (a rectangle floor, I believe) at TM Lodge. That's where my dad hired Tom Gerughty for $20 to guide us up Mt Lyell.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=922000&msg=922000
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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I know that in summer of 1978 YMS was at the visitor center. I went in to buy some chalk and saw they had a wood stave barrel filled to the brim with blocks of it. Kauk was in situ.
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CF
climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:31pm PT
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Station is closed and on thursday they already had the pumps out. check out the window displays and photo of clint that many of you may have seen in the mens restroom
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MisterE
Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:48pm PT
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Working at the Croft's this week, Karine showed me a banner that Walleye had recently salvaged from the shop from BITD.
It shows dramatic shots of them lead-climbing: Peter on one side and Karine on the other, with the print
END OF SUMMER SALE!
between them. Classic.
Edit: vvvv LOL! I was thinking the same thing as I scrolled.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:49pm PT
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Man, that Cummins dude look a lot better in his younger years!
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:52pm PT
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Rumor has it that the Tuolumne Meadows Gas Station will be replace by an indoor climbing gym run by a republican ....
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CF
climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:54pm PT
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Rumor has it that the Tuolumne Meadows Gas Station will be replace by an indoor climbing gym run by a republican ....
classic werner!
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:56pm PT
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Eric, say hey to Peter n Karine. Best cup of coffe I had, Peter made for me behind the gas station. "If you can see the bottom of the cup through the coffee, you might as well be drinkin tea". Peter Croft
Peace
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 05:08pm PT
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Nothing lasts forever.
Oh yes it does.
You just don't know where yet ......
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Is closing the Tuolumne Meadows summer home of Yosemite Mountaineering School part of the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River master plan? Is teaching rock climbing in Tuolumne somehow incompatible with the "wilderness" character of TM?
Been searching, but can't find any written reference to closing TM YMS on the web. It has to be in writing somewhere and therefore traceable back to a source.
Sure is going to be hot teaching basic rock climbing in the Valley in July.
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