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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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