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BigB
Trad climber
Red Rock
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Sep 29, 2017 - 11:36am PT
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Cleo:Geez, wow. Glad you didn't hit it any harder. ....apparently it was hard enough
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Sep 29, 2017 - 12:05pm PT
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If he triggered it, would this classify as the biggest trundle ever?
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Sep 29, 2017 - 12:08pm PT
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http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/2-days-2-dangerous-rock-falls-at-Yosemite-12239909.php
Rock hit man on head as he drove out of Yosemite park
AN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man injured in the second massive rockfall in two days at Yosemite was driving out of the national park when rock and rubble broke through the sunroof of his SUV, hitting him in the head, his wife said.
Television images show Jim Evans, of Naples, Florida, conscious and his wife holding a jacket around his bloody head.
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brotherbbock
climber
Alta Loma, CA
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Sep 29, 2017 - 12:27pm PT
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Thanks for the link to the video John.
Condolences to all involved.
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RjBlake
climber
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Sep 29, 2017 - 12:28pm PT
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I only ever lurk here, but thought perhaps I would post the following annotated photo that I made while trying to understand the position of each rockfall (2010-present), relative to the route. Any errors are my fault, but this is accurate to the best of my ability. It is sobering to compare the position of the climbers in the El Cap Report photos from 2015 vs. the recent rockfall, as I gather that PTPP and party would have traversed some of this ground on the 27th. I am glad they are safe, and very sad for the climbers on the ground, I haven't the words...
I used Antoine Guerin's 2013 gigapan as the base photo, and compared that to Tom Evans El-Cap report photos (10/9/2015 and 9/26/15) to get a sense of where the route goes. I then used gstocks photos from the supertopo thread about the 2014 rockfall to estimate their position on the gigapan screenshot.
Gigapan: http://gigapan.com/gigapans/143467
2010 Rockfall Photo (gstock): http://www.supertopo.com/inc/photo_zoom.php?dpid=Oj87OzoiICInJQ,,
2014 Rockfall Photo (xrez & gstock): http://www.supertopo.com/inc/photo_zoom.php?dpid=Oj87OzoiKScnJw,,
2017 Photos: This thread.
El Cap Report Photos from
9/25/15: http://www.elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-925-and-262015?page=5
10/9/15: http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-1092015
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Crazy Bat
Sport climber
Birmingham, AL & Seweanee, TN
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Sep 29, 2017 - 12:45pm PT
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RjBlake, thanks for that amazing compilation photo.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Sep 29, 2017 - 01:05pm PT
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I'm thinking the single beak tap as an agent of release is tantamount to a butterfly's wings instigating a tsunami. Not that I'd know much about these things. Probably coincidence tied to an inevitability. Who can say? I wasn't there. But seeing/feeling all that rock move an inch, that's a distinct possibility, and one of those holy mother moments, for sure.
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the goat
climber
north central WA
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Sep 29, 2017 - 01:22pm PT
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I was at the top of the first pitch of Stoners when that big chunk fell off left of the Trip in 77?
By far and away the biggest I've ever seen.
Any estimates on how the two events compare?
I was in the valley at the same time, wasn't this one under El Cap Tree and wasn't Werner in the area when it happened? Didn't see it, but I sure heard it! I can't believe what this most recent event must have sounded like......
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Sep 29, 2017 - 01:29pm PT
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The Goat: in 1980, Marco Milano related to me a story of rockfall near El Cap tree. IIRC, he and Werner witnessed cracks propagating. Might be the 1977 event you are referring to?
I was on the Nose in 1987 with clients, and while sitting in our sleeping bags at camp 4, we watched a sizable patch rip off of Middle. If I had to guess, it was 50' x 50'. That's conservative. Probably was larger (perhaps the width and height of a rope length). Crap is tearing out of that place from time to time, well within our lifespans.
Wasn't it just last week that we had a thread on debris from a big rockfall over by the West Face of El Capitan?
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/3011661/Huge-Rockfall-West-Face-of-El-Cap
(not to downplay the massive & deadly nature of this recent event)
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the goat
climber
north central WA
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Sep 29, 2017 - 01:54pm PT
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That was the story I heard, "cracks started getting bigger." I also recall the "shift" in the Hourglass that crushed some fixed pro at the crux around the same time
I witnessed rockfall off the east buttress/schultz's ridge late one spring afternoon driving west from C4. Crazy big block cartwheeling against a sunny background, scared the crap out of me, but compared to what's been occurring lately, just a pebble.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Sep 29, 2017 - 02:25pm PT
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Just reading the summary of the document which EC posted, it's more about risk to structures (and the people inside of them) from:
frequency of occurrence of outlying boulder deposition.
Not that it isn't interesting reading. Or that it isn't on-topic.
Said respectfully (specifically addressing the father who posted up earlier):
But it won't necessarily tell a father what his daughter's risk exposure is from calving of large portions of rock when she's climbing El Capitan. Now that would be something to read!
..............................
But to continue with some excerpts:
The hazard line presented here encompasses a zone of deposition for fragmental rock falls in Yosemite Valley up to approximately 100,000 m3 in volume. It does not account for potential deposition zones of infrequent extremely large rock falls (>100,000 m3 ),
And this is a good one, always important for the risk-averse to know that walking the face of the earth isn't a wholly safe enterprise:
As previously stated by Wieczorek et al. (1998), because of the configuration of the steep, tall (~ 1 km) valley walls and the relatively narrow (~1 km) valley, there are no absolutely safe or zero probability regions for extremely large rock falls or rock avalanches within Yosemite Valley.
And the skinny:
Aggregated risk metrics for each study region reveal two important points: (1) Permanent closure of structures in Curry Village in 2008 reduced the overall risk associated with structures in Yosemite Valley by at least 87%, and (2) following the 2008 closures, the remaining risk associated with structures is highest in Curry Village, Camp 4, and the Curry Village Residential Area, respectively, with lesser degrees of risk in the LeConte-Housekeeping Camp, Sunnyside Bench, Castle Cliffs, Wahhoga, and El Capitan study regions, respectively.
Thanks EC!
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ec
climber
ca
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Sep 29, 2017 - 02:58pm PT
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Tarbuster,
I found the GIS maps quite interesting in regards to this stuff, especially the one on the time of year historically that rock fall occurs.
 ec
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Carbo
Trad climber
Too far south
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Sep 29, 2017 - 03:02pm PT
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Tar
I was in Curry village that morning just getting up when it hit the cabins in the back. Luckily the people who had those cabins had left early. The rock popped and creaked the next night, a lot of people left..
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Denver CO
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Sep 29, 2017 - 03:10pm PT
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What I find strange, is that looking at the before and after pics of the second fall, it doesn't look to be a rift, or weak area in the rock.
My thoughts exactly, this section of the wall looks as stable as any other. Then again, the talus field at the bottom of any cliff is a reminder that most of the rock we climb on will eventually break off.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Sep 29, 2017 - 03:12pm PT
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hey there say, skcreidc... oh, yes! very nice (the study of yosemite, adn rock)... i DID get to see that...
thanks for sharing...
forgot, who shared it, when i saw it, but, yes, good share...
thank you so much.... done very nice and in good taste, etc...
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