Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 20, 2007 - 10:25pm PT
|
hey there all, with all the FACELIFT going on, i was reminising to our kid days, when i was first in yosemite, SO:
i TOOK A LOOK-SEE as to this event... found this interesting quote, too, from this FIREFALLS history-info site.... say, so HOW many of us "witnesses" are left, as time marchs on?
firefalls ended: jan 25, 1968
i was about 10-12 years old, i'd reckon, when i first say it...
as the whole volume of yosemite made an impression on me that never left (and off course, a huge impression on ol' chappy, setting destiny, as he chose to make it his home) ... i will forever be an outdoors gal, from it---and yet, too:
the firefalls, "manmade" though it was, sure did impress this young kid, me, as it just addedd the night time magic, before i fell asleep, in AWE of the WHOLE WONDERFUL VALLEY...
1--do you remember, or is this an unheard of, or unseen event for you?
2--how old were you, etc, and what do you remember about it?
3--did you ever wonder what the heck happened after the fire hit the ground... we sure did...
4--did you spend any future years, seeing it again, or was it then "old hat" ... (say, i like some old hats :) )
HERE IS SOME GREAT INFO, HERE, FOR THOSE THAT HAVE NEVER SEEN OR HEARD OF SUCH....
these are the home-base info, the beginning info, and the ending of firefalls, info (more history links, are included on the site:
http://firefall.info/
http://firefall.info/tradition.html
http://firefall.info/readers.html
HERE IS SOMEONES PHOTO:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85977374@N00/113397525/
*here is a bit more info, though most the best, has alread been said:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_indians_and_other_sketches/fire_fall.html
have fun, all...
|
|
spyork
Social climber
A prison of my own creation
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2007 - 11:24pm PT
|
I was there for the last one. I remember it. I saw a couple before that also. I was 7 years old.
|
|
Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2007 - 11:35pm PT
|
Interesting post. I'd never heard of this before.
|
|
Mom
Social climber
So Cal
|
|
|
Sep 20, 2007 - 11:48pm PT
|
Oh, yes I remember.... we had to hurry and get supper over with and get the camp cleaned up so we could load up in our 1956 White Buick 4 door station wagon; Mother, Dad and four Okie kids who were so excited we really didn't care if we had any supper or not. We had seen photos of it, and wanted to be in the best place in the valley to witness it. Cannot tell you where Dad took us to... we were camped on that huge rock the size of a house in what is now Camp 4; in 1960 it was reserved for campers with pets. We were not traveling with our beloved pure-bred boxer 'Red', but Dad figured he had four pets with two legs, so that ought to serve to satisfy the limitation on that camp ground. Besides, we paid full price of $2.00 per night and didn't even have a picnic table. We were in Yosemite in July; it was late in the evening before it went off!!! and when the fire and the embers went off, we knew we had seen something wonderful that we would never see any place else. We knew that rangers built the fire and manned the entire operation; therefore it was safe and no threat to the park/valley. We didn't think about where the embers went to or anything else.... it was the '60's and I was 14 years old.... all I had on my mind was trying to find a look and not let my dad know that I was looking. Besides that, I was the oldest and had a lot of chores to do. Camping in Yosemite was just about the best place we ever camped. Arches National Monument was a dry camp back then - it was so hot we didn't even set up the tent... just laid it on the ground and slept on top. No cost to use the facilities; had to haul water from a tank on wheels that was parked close to the campground entrace. Anyways, use kids wore out our new camping jeans(straight from Montgomery Wards) crawling up some of the 30 degreee slopes and sliding down them. My little brother was 7 years old and not only did he wear out his jeans, he wore through to his underware ( hump!! so much for J.C. Penney skivvies). The '50 and the '60's were a fantastico time to be a kid and to be growing up in probably the safest time in recent history. Stay well and there ARE great days ahead! Mom
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 20, 2007 - 11:50pm PT
|
hey there crimpergirl... i am seriously wondering and very curious is there are many of us left... at least here... as i have come to find many climber here are a newer generation....
try and picture yourself as a young kid... just seeing this fantastic valley for the FIRST time in your life---and then to see that "river of fire" going over that cliff... really something....
coure, us kids didnt think about the --quote: burnt lichen, on the rocks... that would hopefully someday grow back...
i always wondered about the start of this, and was very shocked to see someone had done all this work, to preserve the history...
man, oh, man... yeah, as part of yosemite history... we that saw it the firefalls, sure saw something unique... not sure if any folks ever did stuff like this... course, there aint many cliffs like glacier point!
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2007 - 12:00am PT
|
hey there all... say, perhaps yosemite is the only place to have ever had such a spectacular viewing... as to a man-made event, such as this (looked like a real "water wall of light".... yeah... once you see it... you NEVER forget it...
i remember we were all sitting in a field-type area, on rock, or perhaps there was even some wood-beam fencess, not sure about that part... and we had come from camp site, as well...
i just dont know the exact place we stayed that night... i wished i could have seen it each night, forever... haha.. but our dad wasn't too adventurous ... our mother was the outdoors gal...
we also saw it with folks from germany, once,or then, i think...
i remember going up there, too, to glacier point, and seeing the area and view... and i think we went up BEFORE the firefalls went that night???, ... we got to see where "the action was... or was going to be:--whichever it was....
hope you all get to take a peek at the only pics that i found...
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2007 - 12:03am PT
|
hey there spyork... say, not sure.. but i think this history site that i found, was done for the ? 30? year anniversary of the last one... the one you saw...
say... does anyone out there have any PICTURES OF THE YOSEMITE firefalls to post????
|
|
spyork
Social climber
A prison of my own creation
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:09am PT
|
I am pretty sure we stayed in curry tents. I have to call my mom and ask her. My dad and sister are gone and my brother tips the bottle a bit too much.
My dad said it was very spectacular but he didnt figure how they could let something so destructive happen in a national park. Go figure...
I dont even remember which cliff. Was it glacier point?
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
The West
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:12am PT
|
I saw it sometime in the summer of '60. I had my 4th birthday that summer, on that vacation, probably in Bezerkely, I don't remember that part. I do remember the fire fall. Lots of standing around, grown-ups encouraging me to pay attention,feeling really bored, etc.
Then thousands of feet of flame (as I saw it)! I can close my eyes and see it right now; at least as I recall it.
Wonder if I would have been as compelled to make three painstaking, trips to burningman without that memory?
For the record, oh yeah, that strikes me as an inappropriate use of our cultural heritage. But three years later, when we went to
Yellowstone and watched old Faithful, I was ready for it, "oh the water this time,"
Five years later, '68, my Dad and I backpacked across Isle Royale, scoped Moose and Wolves, "all theese parks got cool stuff." I hadda think.
In ~70 I did the Keyhole up cables down, on Longs with Dad. Refocused me on climbing.
In August '79 Dad, one witness of the Firefall, passed.
(Pancreatic Ca, symptoms first noted in Jan of that same year, he was only 56 and athletic, at the top of his game. There is talk that his being in Nagasaki 'the day after' might have been bad for his health.)
But about six weeks before the end he happily sat through my slides of WFLT, The Arrow Direct and the Prow. That was the latest he'd stayed up past his meds, in months.
We will all pass. I don't share the multiple lives view (at least not in a literal sense) that some others here do. Take the time to do it right, but make it count, and don't put it off.
Do something, give something, leave something. Isn't that a sound idea? even if you get other chances?
Okay, off soapbox.
Weird sh#t that firefall!!
Really!
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2007 - 12:17am PT
|
hey there jaybro... man, oh, man... you made me LAUGH... with these words of yours:
".....But three years later, when we went to
Yellowstone and watched old Faithful, I was ready for it, "oh the water this time,"
as to the natural resouses and national park... yeah, being a kid, i just trusted that they knew what they were doing... as like... i just reckoned there must "non-burnables" below... but that was as far ahead as i saw, then...
sorry to hear about your dad passing-on that way* makes the firefall more special, huh, knowing he saw it with ya'
|
|
Strongerdog
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:18am PT
|
I was in Yosemite for summer vacations every year from my first year of life in 1959 onward, and definitely remember walking over to Camp Curry for the firefall many nights. Eventually, someone running the event in Curry would yell up to Glacier Point with a loud speaker "let the fire fall", and it would soon start. Lost one of my teeth looking up watching it one time.
I also remember seeing the lights of the climbers on the walls, especially Half Dome, at night before going to bed. We would get our flashlights out and try to communicate with them.
Years later, after actually climbing Tis-sa-ack, I e-mailed Royal Robbins and told him about being a kid wondering about those climbers sleeping on the walls back then. He e-mailed back a nice note saying "now you know".
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
The West
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:20am PT
|
"now you know".
-classic!
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2007 - 12:21am PT
|
hey there strongdog... yeah, check out the links on that page... talked about how the "yell" would take place....
|
|
Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:23am PT
|
"Hey, Mr. Ranger - What time do they throw the flaming bear off Glacier Point?"
Perhaps the tradition could be resurrected informally, maybe in a slightly different format? But please, no flaming cars going over the edge.
|
|
John Moosie
climber
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:25am PT
|
I grew up watching it. We use to camp for 2 weeks every year at crane flats campground and drive to the valley to see it. Great vacations. Now no one in my family camps except me.
One of my friends use to build the fire every night. It was built out of bark and once it was going they used a long wooden pole to push it off. And yes, it came off of glacier point. There use to be a metal chute which they pushed the burning embers through.
I would love to see it again.
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2007 - 12:30am PT
|
hey there john moosie... say, check out the links, there... there were a few pics... think there was one of them pushing the fire down.. or getting ready to...
its a black and white pic...
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2007 - 12:33am PT
|
hey there... hard to believe it was a nightly tradition for
88 years, it said...
|
|
Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:36am PT
|
neebee thanks for the email and the post - I remember the Firefall!
warmest regards,
Ray
|
|
neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 21, 2007 - 12:38am PT
|
hey there...
say, you all... one of the links that i listed has a whole list of "eye witnesses" and there comments... you can go there, too, and you can list your "eye-witness" comments, as well...
say, you may even know some of the folks that posted--you neverrrrrrrr know...
here is the link... scroll down, and you can add what you saw, as well... i plan to do it later...
http://firefall.info/readers.html
|
|
Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2007 - 12:41am PT
|
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!