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John Moosie
climber
Beautiful California
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Jul 21, 2011 - 03:30pm PT
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Photos of the dead on the railing might work better. Or just as you top out, so as not to spoil the view.
That dude who held his 6 year old screaming daughter over the edge needs some remedial training. I once held a guy over the railing at the wawona hotel. It cured him of his idiocy.
You going to do that to your daughter ever again? Huh? Oh dude, my hands are slipping.... .. Just kidding.
Would that be a little too brutal?
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Jul 21, 2011 - 03:45pm PT
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This is where the accident happened. These are pics I'm hotlinking from the net.
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chill
climber
between the flat part and the blue wobbly thing
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Jul 21, 2011 - 03:46pm PT
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"everyone entering the park gets an IQ test of sorts to test their wilderness mettle and general common sense..."
It looks to me like there already is an IQ test in place.
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Gene
climber
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Jul 21, 2011 - 03:57pm PT
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Yosemite National Park officials say they have no plans to add new warning signs or other protections to the area where three young people were swept over a 317-foot waterfall this week.
{SNIP}
Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said Thursday the railing and single sign are adequate. Gediman says it's the visitor's responsibility to exercise judgment and caution when near any cliff.
http://www.thirdage.com/news/yosemite-officials-have-no-plans-to-put-up-new-warning-signs_07-21-2011
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Jul 21, 2011 - 04:21pm PT
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it's the visitor's responsibility to exercise judgment and caution when near any cliff.
Absolutely.
People will do foolish things and you cannot protect them from their own poor judgment.
This will serve as a new and more powerful warning to the naive and those lacking good judgment. But, I fear that people will soon forget or feel that this doesn't apply to them.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 21, 2011 - 04:41pm PT
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scuffy b
climber
dissected alluvial deposits, late Pleistocene
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:08pm PT
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When I was a child, my family hiked up and were lunching alongside Emerald
Pool. We got to see a dramatic rescue, as a girl was being swept into the
outflow. Several strapping young men linked hands and extended a human
chain out to reach and save her.
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:20pm PT
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I guess that explains why swimming in Emerald pool is not allowed on calm days... people don't know to stay away from the outflow.
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cliffhanger
Trad climber
California
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:21pm PT
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This picture Graniteclimber posted suggests there's a possibility of surviving the initial plunge during high flows:
Close to the base, where one would end up during low flows, it looks rocky; but there is a deep pool ~ 30' out that was dug out by high flows that shoot out with greater vigor. The deep pool is where one would end up during high flows. If someone raced down quick enough and had the rescue capabilities, someone still alive and circulating in the pool could be fished out. A belay could be set up to protect the rescue swimmer. Once they were flushed into the horrendous rock sieve down river their chances would plummet to zero.
People go over big falls all the time and survive if there is a deep pool down there.
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:26pm PT
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It's rocky, I've taken a close look (as a kayaker), I don't think there is a good landing zone, although you may have a point regarding "at big flows".
Plus, it's 325', not 125'. Even with foamy water and a deep pool... I don't think surviveable
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WBraun
climber
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:31pm PT
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Couple hundred feet at the most.
What's up with this crazy obsession with this event?
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:33pm PT
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Wait, why is this hard to measure? From Wikipedia:
While the official height of the waterfall is 318 feet (97 m), the United States Geographical Survey has measured it at approximately 240 feet (73 m).
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cleo
Social climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:34pm PT
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(procrastination, and because everybody back home heard about it, back to work!)
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:37pm PT
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No Problem! Looks like it's hitting all rocks in that picture to me, not that I wouldn't try for the deeper section in that last millisecond of my life.
All of these photos show the falls as a mild little drip compared to current conditions, or at least what I saw a few weeks ago. The river bottom you see in the above photos was not visible. It was just a huge mess of whitewater. That sh#t was thunderous, loud and obvious - death.
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Gene
climber
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Jul 21, 2011 - 05:41pm PT
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plummet to zero.
Absolutely correct.
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crusher
climber
Santa Monica, CA
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Jul 21, 2011 - 06:17pm PT
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This whole thing is incredibly sad.
What really bothers me and makes me red-in-the-face angry was the completely sadistic a-hole "father" (?) holding his little kid over the brink as a joke, while the poor kid screamed hysterically.
There's a guy who outta be arrested for child abuse.
Probably after seeing that, these 3 thought it was really no biggy to be over the rail, after all, some d*(*&*(&head just held his 6 year old out there. Wow.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 21, 2011 - 06:33pm PT
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Probably after seeing that, these 3 thought it was really no biggy to be over the rail, after all, some d*(*&*(&head just held his 6 year old out there. Wow. I'm just not seeing the connection beyond coincidence. Such jack-assery happens all day long everywhere on the planet.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 21, 2011 - 06:41pm PT
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OMG - DMT quoted the 3 lamest attempts.
This is how I would roll:
Kayak, no helmet:
Oh f*#k yeah!
Both dead - no way!
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Caveman
climber
Cumberland Plateau
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Jul 21, 2011 - 06:42pm PT
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"In the Spirit of Adventure - A 1915 Mount Mitchell Hiking Journal" This is the book that has the story of Elisha Mitchell and Big Tom Wilson.
As I recall Big Tom said he could tell that Mitchell was traveling after dark as he started stumbling into rocks instead of stepping over them.
I found this which is an abbreviated version of the story in the book.
http://www.ncnatural.com/Resources/Adventure/Black-Mtns.html
"There are several versions of Elisha Mitchell's last walk in the Black Mountains, but all versions must agree on the ending. On June 27, 1857 at approximately 8:19 PM Elisha Mitchell slipped on a rocky ledge above a 20 ft waterfall (Mitchell Falls) and fell to his death. He hit his head as he fell and drowned in the deep cold pool below. Mitchell had hiked to the top of the ridge where he had been in 1835, on the high peak itself, and had become lost on his return from the top. He went down a dangerous steep ridge and when darkness began to overtake him he went down off the ridge and started traveling the creek bed. There were no trails, and the terrain is rugged and dangerous, with frequent drop-offs of 20-60 ft. While trying to cross the creek he slipped and fell to his death. It was many days before his body was found by Big Tim WIlson, a noted tracker and hunter who was familiar with the area and had tracked Mitchell's final journey back down the mountain from where he had left the ridge."
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crusher
climber
Santa Monica, CA
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Jul 21, 2011 - 06:46pm PT
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I'm not saying that guy with the kid is accountable for what happened to the other 3. I'm saying he's an a hole and I hope he now understands (at a terrible cost) how his actions might have turned out and why people were yelling at him to get back away from the water. And why there are signs and railings there...for a REASON.
EDIT: Quote from article in LA Times (this is what I meant when I said the 3 who went over might have thought it no big deal to go over the railing when they had just watched this guy dangle his kid):
"The man walked back to safety, but three other members of his group had also crossed over a safety barricade".
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