Above him, for several feet, the stone is blank, devoid of any holds. That means he is alone and climbing without a rope as he inches his way up more than half a mile of sheer rock.Ī light breeze rustles his hair as he shines his headlamp on the cold, smooth patch of granite where he must next place his foot. He’s attempting to do something that professional rock climbers have long thought was impossible-a “free solo” ascent of the world’s most iconic cliff. on a chilly November morning in 2016 in Yosemite National Park.Ī full moon casts an eerie glow onto the southwest face of El Capitan, where Alex Honnold clings to the side of the granite wall with nothing more than the tips of his fingers and two thin edges of shoe rubber. “There’s no guarantee that nothing else is going to come down,” Gediman said “But based on their assessment, there doesn’t seem to be any significant indicator that there might be anything else.” Sunlight reflects off the granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in November, 2020.This story appears in the February 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine. For now, he said, there appears to be no immediate threat of further rockfall at the site, after on the geologists’ initial reviews. Geologists will continue to study Monday’s slide, Gediman noted. “Generally the climbers are not on El Cap this time of year,” he said. Gediman said Thursday that no climbers were on El Capitan at the time of the latest rock slide. One woman was killed and 11 other hikers and campers were injured. In 1996, a granite slab broke off below Glacier Point and rained 162,000 tons of rocks and other debris down near the Happy Isles trailhead. Terbush was hailed as a hero after the tragedy for holding onto the rope as the rocks cascaded around him, saving the life of his friend who was dangling 60 feet above the ground. In 1999, Peter Terbush, a 21-year-old rock climber and college student from Colorado, was killed when a large granite slab broke off Glacier Point’s rock walls, hitting him as he stood on the ground anchoring a climbing partner’s belay rope. “To tell the real story”: Parks’ historic policy shift gives Native Americans a role as stewards After a rock slide near Glacier Point injured three visitors in 2008, park officials moved some cabins at Curry Village. More have died by drownings, car accidents and other causes.īut rock falls have caused damage and drawn international attention. After the glaciers that carved Yosemite Valley retreated about 15,000 years ago, rock falls - sometimes triggered by changes in temperature, or earthquakes, water or other factors - have been a major force reshaping the famous valley.Ībout 17 people have been killed in the park by falling rocks over the past 150 years. Rockfalls are a natural part of Yosemite’s relentlessly changing geology. “Holy God!” a man can be heard saying in the background of Piper’s video Videos of Monday’s rock fall were captured by at least two park visitors, Wood, and James Piper, a Novato photographer. An estimated 185 tons of boulders hit the Dodge Ram truck they were sitting in, sending it off the road into the Merced River embankment.Īvalanche! Crazy seeing giant piece of El Capitan fall at #yosemite #yosemitenationalpark #rock #Avalanche #elcapitan /9fVgQmDXvS 27, a San Jose couple, Georgios Theocharous, 51, and his wife Ming Yan, 35, were killed when a rockslide occurred half a mile from park’s Arch Rock Entrance along Highway 140. Those killed Welsh athlete Andrew Foster, 32, severely injured his 28-year-old wife, Lucy, and sent rocks smashing through the sunroof of an SUV driven by Florida tourist Jim Evans, causing major injuries. Monday’s rock slide was a reminder of two slides that occurred nearby on El Capitan in September 2017. I realize what I was witnessing was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.” “I then looked across and saw a giant piece of El Capitan, in the shape of a huge oversized grand piano, plummet. “Initially I couldn’t understand why there was such a loud clap of thunder when it was completely blue clear skies,” Wood said. (Courtesy of Alex Wood)Īlex Wood, an artist from England, was visiting the park for the first time when he witnessed the rare event. Everyone in the valley heard this one.” A rockslide sends boulders crashing down El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. “It might be a few small rocks, or a significant one. “There are rock falls every day here,” Gediman said. That’s roughly the equivalent of 100 to 200 dump trucks full, an amount which likely weighed hundreds of tons. The slide released about 1,000 to 2,000 cubic yards of rock, Gediman said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |