Big Sur landslide. Yikes.

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Messages 21 - 26 of total 26 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
i'm gumby dammit

Sport climber
da ow
May 25, 2017 - 09:18am PT
I like the description from the norwegian helicopter vid.
A helicopter smacks down a rock off a cliff face to eliminate a rock fall hazard for the road below. The helicopter then displays its dominance of the Fjord by urinating all over the rock face. This is done to loosen and remove any remaining small rocks that may fail at another time and cream a volvo or saab on the road below.
StahlBro

Trad climber
San Diego, CA
May 25, 2017 - 07:46pm PT
I understand not wanting the human caused landslides to slip into the sea, but in this case it is ludicrous. The coastline there has been eroding for millions of years.

Not matter what they do, it will get wiped out again.

Just makes the time when it is available all the more precious.


Tom

Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
May 25, 2017 - 08:08pm PT
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's hard to say how much the man-made highway contributed to the Mud Creek landslide.

You can see from the Highway Patrol's photo of the landslide that it begins far above the road. There are a number of active springs there. That area has had bad slides for a long, long time. The soil is a mix of clay, soapstone, and serpentine, all of which get slippery when wet. Just out of view, to the right, is a lesser, but recurring slide area that almost never has pavement on the road. CalTrans just levels off the dirt, and calls it a day, because it is destined to slide again, and again.


Just below the homestead, right of the slide, is an area that previously was so obnoxious, a catch basin was built to divert a perpetual spring that was continually loosening the soil and causing slides down onto the highway. The catch basin is at the upper right area of the green homestead (not all the way over at the big ravine, which is Alder Creek).

Ironically, the pipe that carries the water away from that catch basin crosses the homestead, and leads to the enormous landslide.



dhayan

climber
culver city, ca
Topic Author's Reply - May 25, 2017 - 10:31pm PT
Wow that photo is awesome. That whole area looks so unstable...

New right and left pointbreak?
clinker

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
May 26, 2017 - 03:23am PT
There is a market for flying cars in Big Sur.
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
May 26, 2017 - 04:30am PT
The coast route needs to be replaced/augmented by a high-speed rail line above all the slide-prone slopes.
Messages 21 - 26 of total 26 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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