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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 6, 2009 - 07:48pm PT
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That's it, Clint. It's hard to see looking straight on, but there were very large fractures (chimneys!) bounding both sides of that large block. You can see that by zooming in on the xRez photo taken from the Diving Board:
http://www.xrez.com/gallery/yosemite/xRez_yose.html
This event illustrates exactly why we took all of those panoramic photos - a great tool to study rock falls after they've happened!
Greg
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 6, 2009 - 08:05pm PT
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Yep, that's it. Note the trees for scale.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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there is a new crack and a new roof, albeit, a bit unstable at this juncture in time, but nevertheless, worth contemplating.
`
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JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
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Hey Supertopians,
What an awesome thread! Lots of cool photos, intelligent analysis, and good info. Maybe I'm wrong, but the rock in some of these last "before" photos looks(ed) real solid. Chris or Clint or anyone else, were there any routes over there?
Clarification on closures: The Slabs approach to Half Dome will not be affected by the Southern portion of Mirror Lake loop trail closure. There will be general closure signs, and interpretive signs at the Tenaya Bridge (paved bridge) before the Mirror Lake loop. The Slabs access will remain open.
That said, remember that there has been a lot of rockfall off of the NWF face of Half Dome above the slabs over the last few years. So precede with caution, and consider going the long way through Little Yosemite Valley and up the Half Dome trail.
Another clarification: Peter stated, "Looks like the rockfall will result in a lot more closures around the valley..." This rockfall has not caused any more campground or lodging closures in the Valley. All Yosemite Valley campgrounds are open.
Its great to be back, and I look forward to another season of great threads on the Supertopian forum!
Jesse McGahey
Lead Climbing Ranger
Yosemite Wilderness Management
(209) 372-0360
jesse_mcgahey@nps.gov
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WBraun
climber
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"Death Slabs"
Who came up with this bullsh'it term?.
It was always called "slabs to half dome"
Modern drama queens most likely rename everything ....
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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"Death" just doesn't mean as much to folks who believe in reincarnation...
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JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
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Werner, out of respect for your sound judgment on terminology I edited my post to omit the "Death Slabs" term. Maybe the Drama Queen who renamed the Half Dome Slabs lurks somewhere on this forum...?
Jesse
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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The slabs approach route up to Half Dome is an active rockfall
area.
People pick up beta on Yosemite routes from numerous sources.
Names like Death Slabs makes people wary.
Nicknaming them the Easy Picnic slabs or Frisky School Kids Approach slabs or Happy Bivouac Slabs or Staircase Slabs or
Nude Girls Sunbathing Slabs approach..
..would increase the traffic and the chance of fatalities.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Maybe we should rename other stuff, then, too?
Death Capitan?
Death Nose?
Glacier Point Death Apron?
Rixon's Death Pinnacle?
It seems a bit arbitrary on where to draw the line.
I have used the Slabs Approach to Half Dome, and one of my friends had a close call on it with rockfall in the past 2 years. I don't exactly recommend it, but it is an approach option to be aware of.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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'Death Slabs' is the first term I ever heard to describe this approach..this would be in the early-mid 1990s I guess, and it seemed to be the generally accepted usage.
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east side underground
Trad climber
Hilton crk,ca
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after my last experince on "the slabs", a dead guy at the base and nearly getting picked off by rockfall I prefer "nude girls sunbathing slabs approach. :)
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Mr_T
Trad climber
The 7th Pin Scar on Serentiy Crack
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I always thought the Death Slabs are the terrain you get into if you try to drop down the North Dome Gully too soon. Half Dome is just the Slabs approach.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Greg/Jesse: What was the total volume and mass of the rockfall? Any estimates?
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WBraun
climber
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LOL Jesse
You know me better n that. You should ah said: "Fuk off Werner, we'll call it anything we want."
Anyways .. Bridwell and a couple of other people including myself back in 72 made our first descent down that thing. Bridwell says hey "I think this thing will go, let's take this shortcut back to the Valley."
Everyone nods yes and off we go.
It's Bridwell. We won't die with him in the lead ...... hahaha
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Nice Gigapan!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
the greasewood ghetto
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Thanks cF
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2009 - 03:16pm PT
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The cumulative volume of the Ahwiyah Point rock fall(s) was about 43,000 cubic meters, or about 114,000 metric tons. This makes this rock fall larger than the 1996 Happy Isles event. In fact, it is the largest event since the Middle Brother rock fall of March 10, 1987. For perspective, though, the 1987 Middle Brother rock fall was about 600,000 cubic meters in volume, or about 1.6 million metric tons, roughly 14 times larger than the recent Ahwiyah Point rock fall. There were several other notable rock falls in that decade (1980-1989), including the 1980 Yosemite Falls Trail rock fall (volume 1,500 cubic meters, 3 fatalities, 7 injuries), the 1980-81 Elephant Rock rock fall (volume 24,000 cubic meters), and the 1982 Cookie Cliff rock slide (volume 100,000 cubic meters). In terms of both rock-fall volume and the number of rock fall-related injuries/fatalities, the period 1980-1989 was much more significant than the period 2000-2009 has been.
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