Discussion Topic |
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| Messages 1 - 64 of total 64 in this topic |
Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 12, 2017 - 09:17pm PT
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::::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.
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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Oct 12, 2017 - 09:42pm PT
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great warning matt, could save life. ss
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 12, 2017 - 10:03pm PT
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I really fear for the unsuspecting party who may be plotting on the Trip.
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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Oct 12, 2017 - 10:53pm PT
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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.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Oct 12, 2017 - 11:29pm PT
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Greg Stock has expressed interest in monitoring active rockfall (if feasible).
Signs could also be placed on the approach.
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Oct 13, 2017 - 04:18am PT
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Wow, scary.
Maybe I should be rethinking my El Cap plans for the end of the month :(
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Oct 13, 2017 - 05:57am PT
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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
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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Oct 13, 2017 - 07:09am PT
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Wow, maybe avoid that side of El Cap for a while?
BAd
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 13, 2017 - 07:17am PT
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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.
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errett
Social climber
Grumpy Ridge
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Oct 13, 2017 - 07:36am PT
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Probably caused by that pin I slammed in up there 40 years ago. I apologize.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Oct 13, 2017 - 07:47pm PT
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As usual, thanks to Greg Stock!!!
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drF
Trad climber
usa
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Oct 13, 2017 - 07:58pm PT
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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!
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Oct 16, 2017 - 05:07pm PT
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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 :/
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Oct 16, 2017 - 05:30pm PT
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HUUUUUGE!!!! Atleast the size of 5 houses.
Here's some before and after shots.
11:47am yesterday 😉
5:03pm today
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Oct 16, 2017 - 05:42pm PT
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Be safe guys
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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Oct 16, 2017 - 07:33pm PT
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Looks to me like the Lightning Bolt roofs are missing.....
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Oct 16, 2017 - 07:58pm PT
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Wow. Greg, can't wait to hear your team's assessment.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
On the road.
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Oct 16, 2017 - 08:32pm PT
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It looks like a lot of scarring right below the 9 O’clock Roof.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Oct 16, 2017 - 09:35pm PT
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Here's a few more. Dang I watched the whole thing. It was like it was slow motion, it was soooo big.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Oct 16, 2017 - 10:56pm PT
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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.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Oct 16, 2017 - 10:58pm PT
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Nice Tad! That one got us dancing on our ledge
Go Dodger Blue!!!!!⚾️
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matty
Trad climber
under the sea
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Oct 16, 2017 - 11:06pm PT
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Hope everyone is safe. I know Bill and Erik are over that way. Keep us posted. Will be interesting to see more exactly what happened.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Oct 16, 2017 - 11:17pm PT
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Bill and E. completed their Third Ascent of Ned's Excellent Adventure last week.
More Rockfall just now but it sounded more to the right, over by waterfall route again I think.
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matty
Trad climber
under the sea
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Oct 16, 2017 - 11:25pm PT
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Thanks Pete didn't realize they were off yet. Hope it works out for everyone.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Oct 17, 2017 - 09:04am PT
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I'm not sure, but I think I heard Lambone and Chris climbing all night to GTFOZASAP!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Oct 17, 2017 - 09:54am PT
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Ha. This just in.
Hi Peter, you know something about Zenyatta? My partner barely died there yesterday. Truck size rock hit the ground 2 meters from him. Our bags are on #1 belay. Rockfalls came without any warning... no body even screamed. Maby you know is it still possible rockfalls or section of loose rock?
I wonder what they should do? ;)
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Oct 17, 2017 - 10:50am PT
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Or abandon the bags with a sign at the bottom saying please don't steal our bags.....
And in which geologic period should they return to safely recover said bags?
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dee ee
Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
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Oct 17, 2017 - 11:46am PT
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Maybe the bags will come down on their own.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Oct 17, 2017 - 12:12pm PT
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Both Polish guys with unpronounceable and unspellable names just messaged me. The guy who was on the wall when the rockfall happened said it was his first experience in Solo Aid!!! 111
Blublocker is out on lead, about to repair the final section of chopped rivets that Jim Beyer took out. A few pitches below, I had to drill for new rivets to bypass his chopping. It's a lot of hard work and no fun at all.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Oct 17, 2017 - 12:24pm PT
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Maybe the bags will come down on their own.
lol
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Oct 17, 2017 - 02:59pm PT
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Is El Cap on a geological period?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Oct 17, 2017 - 03:12pm PT
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It's all Honnold's fault. He popped the Captain's cherry, and the Captain is pissed.
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Oct 17, 2017 - 05:05pm PT
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I'm unclear on whether people are reporting a new rockfall that occurred in the past 24 hours or so, or whether these are additional reports of the rockfall that Lambone reported occurring at 6 pm on October 11. If there was a new rockfall, when (day and time) did it happen? And did it originate from much higher on the cliff than the 2nd pitch of Tangerine Trip?
I would really like to understand whether these are separate rockfall events.
There have been many instances in which a rockfall source area was active for days or weeks after an initial failure, including the recent rockfalls from the Horsetail Fall area. There is no hard or fast rule for how long to avoid an active rockfall area, but it's usually a good bet to give it a few seasons to experience a range of environmental conditions.
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drF
Trad climber
usa
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Oct 17, 2017 - 05:57pm PT
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It's all Honnold's fault. He popped the Captain's cherry, and the Captain is pissed.
Man..that's spot on. LoL
Seriously tho, I hope it's not a symptom of mini-quakes
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Oct 17, 2017 - 09:20pm PT
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Exfoliation and gravity folks . . . geologic formations are not static. Entropy rules!
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Slabby D
Trad climber
B'ham WA
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Oct 18, 2017 - 09:17am PT
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Zabrok is about a week into this most recent hike
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Oct 18, 2017 - 10:20am PT
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Does anybody else find it fishy that the recent massive rock-falls ONLY seem to be occurring when Pete is up there?
Coincidence? Hmmmmm........
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 18, 2017 - 10:31am PT
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El Cap can’t take the strain of the Hoser Junk Show.
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Oct 18, 2017 - 12:05pm PT
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What is 'junk' about his show? Something along the lines of the Red Green show? Seems kinda fitting and he sure does seem to enjoy himself up there. Maybe he should use more duct tape?
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Oct 18, 2017 - 12:13pm PT
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Thanks for the information. Looks like the rockfall originated just above the belay at the top of the 4th pitch of Zenyatta Mondatta. The "A3 R hooks (improbable move over roof)" section of the 5th pitch listed on the Supertopo is gone, as is the nice-looking belay ledge below it.
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Oct 18, 2017 - 12:16pm PT
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What is 'junk' about his show? Something along the lines of the Red Green show? Seems kinda fitting and he sure does seem to enjoy himself up there. Maybe he should use more duct tape?
People like to pick on Pete and all his crap because they're up on El Cap all the time doing routes in way better style
🙄
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Captain...or Skully
climber
Boise, ID
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Oct 18, 2017 - 01:24pm PT
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And he sucks. There's always that.
Good info, Gstock.
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drF
Trad climber
usa
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Oct 18, 2017 - 07:31pm PT
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Skully is broken
PTPP-envy
SAdd
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Captain...or Skully
climber
Boise, ID
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Oct 18, 2017 - 09:21pm PT
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Envy?
Why would I want to suck? That's stupid. That guy has ALWAYS sucked.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Oct 18, 2017 - 09:25pm PT
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CAPITAN KIRK, DONT BE A HATER!!!
Orelse Dr. Karma may visit you AGAIN
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Oct 18, 2017 - 09:27pm PT
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Excellent before and after photos, Greg - many thanks.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Oct 18, 2017 - 09:30pm PT
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Wow, Kirk Bland - you used to be such a fun loving guy, making fun of my brand new fluorescent orange jug slings on Aurora, always quick with a joke. You even sent me a postcard once from Tennessee.
Have I done something to upset you? Do I owe you an apology for something?
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Lennox
climber
just southwest of the center of the universe
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Oct 18, 2017 - 10:03pm PT
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Why would I want to suck?
Forget it Skully, this cowardly drF leg-humper will never be able to understand why anyone wouldn't want to suck.
BB, I'll be your karma, blitch.
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Oct 19, 2017 - 09:11am PT
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Lambone and Tom had the location pegged before I did, so they deserve the kudos.
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2017 - 09:40am PT
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It was a pleasure to meet you Greg!
I'm thankfull Moirai didn't draw my card this time...
The weight of it all is still sinking in. We were sitting in the D4 Ledge just wondering if we were being wimps about climbing ZM after Chris took a 20 footer onto the belay when a head snapped.
I owe my life to my partner Chris Gibson who looked at me and said,
"If your vibe is bail then let's f*#king bail, what the f*#k do I know about it? Does sand usually pour on your Ledge in the morning??!!!"
I said, "nope, that's what happens before big rocks fall off. Something doesn't feel right."
We spent all day climbing p1-3, and a night at p3 anchors. P5 is only 200ft above that spot. After watching it come down while pushing Zodiac I was/am angry with myself for taking so long to bail 3 pitches. We spent 2-3 hours packing and lowering the bivi, when I could have fixed our ropes and been off in minutes.
Too close. I'm still in shock kinda and am glad to be headed home to my girls!
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Slabby D
Trad climber
B'ham WA
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Oct 19, 2017 - 09:53am PT
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That's pretty F$%ked. Glad you're alive!
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Oct 19, 2017 - 10:20am PT
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Good on ya Lambone for getting outta there. And be safe and fast up there Pete!
Scott
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Oct 19, 2017 - 05:16pm PT
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It is obvious from the churning of the far right that this is all a result of Trump being elected,..
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drF
Trad climber
usa
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Oct 20, 2017 - 07:40pm PT
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Why would I want to suck?
Ha. We had to drag our kit thru your brain slick at the bottom of Mescalito.
You most DEFINITELY Suck....captum lol
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Oct 21, 2017 - 03:46pm PT
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In Greg's two photos.
That's a helluva a lot of rock that's come off.
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JLyons
Sport climber
Cali
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Oct 21, 2017 - 03:52pm PT
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Kirk Bland always posts like he's an actual turd. Definition of curmudgeon. EAse up
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Oct 24, 2017 - 10:29am PT
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"It is obvious from the churning of the far right that this is all a result of Trump being elected"
I think you nailed it Toker. This then would be rockfall of a biblical nature. Abandon all hope, the end is near
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Barbarian
climber
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Oct 24, 2017 - 12:53pm PT
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Does anybody else find it fishy that the recent massive rock-falls ONLY seem to be occurring when Pete is up there?
He's always up there.
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Honu
Big Wall climber
Boulder
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Oct 25, 2017 - 08:00am PT
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Hi guys, my names hayden, I don't have much to add because much of my story has already been said about the t trip incident. I have heard that the section I was concerned about came off just days after I went up there solo and saw that expanding groaning section. I believe the button head bolt I placed saved my life. I just want to contribute this photo I took of the ZM rock fall when it came down right after I finished my lead of the flying buttress on our push of zod.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Oct 25, 2017 - 09:37am PT
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I believe the button head bolt I placed saved my life.
Holy schmoly man! You boys are playing with dynamite up there right now. Thanks for posting up and stay safe and stay rad out there!
Scott
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 25, 2017 - 09:09pm PT
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That's me in in the red jacket about to sh#t my pants...!
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ZachW
Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
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May 29, 2018 - 06:24pm PT
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I'm a bit horrified to find this thread just after getting off a solo of the Trip. I found an unanchored rope and variety of fixed gear on pitch 2 that must have been yours Lambone? The pitch went fine and I didn't notice any loose rock. DM me and we can arrange a return if you want it.
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2018 - 07:36pm PT
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It’s not my gear, it’s Hayden’s, “Honu” above. He lives in the Valley. I’ll let him know about this, thanks!
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