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Subscribe to RSSSeveral campsites and cabins are closing down in areas thought to be at greatest risk for falling boulders. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Yosemite National Park is shuttering cabins, campsites and other structures in areas found to be at greatest risk of boulders crashing down.
In a statement released Thursday, the park said it made the decision after a new study for the first time delineated "a rockfall hazard line" in the Yosemite Valley.
Eighteen more cabins will be off limits in Curry Village, where in 2008 the equivalent of 570 dump trucks of boulders from the 3,000-foot-tall Glacier Point hit 18 cabins and sent visitors fleeing for their lives. The park closed 233 of the 600 cabins in the village after the scare, and later relocated 125. The 18 closed Thursday will be relocated to safer areas as well.
Other areas impacted include:
- Two employee dorms and parts of three others will close, forcing the park to move 30 staff and worsening a critical housing shortage;
- Eight campsites at Camp 4, a $5-a-night bargain near El Capitan used mainly by climbers, will be relocated nearby;
- The LeConte Memorial, which includes a library and educational site, as well as the Curry Village Amphitheater will host fewer programs.
The park expected the decision would "reduce the overall risk ... by 95 percent."
Park spokesman Kari Cobb emphasized to msnbc.com that the park is "fighting against" erroneous news reports suggesting that park areas are being closed off to hikers. It's the structures and campsites, not the recreational areas, being impacted, she said.
National Park Service
Rockfalls confirmed in the Yosemite Valley between 1857 and 2009.
The greatest rockfall dangers are within 180 feet of the base of the cliffs, the study concluded, while adding that there is also a 10 percent chance a potentially deadly boulder will fall outside of the zone every 50 years.
The Yosemite Lodge and the Ahwahnee Hotel are not located in the danger zone.
Laser mapping was used to create the first detailed look at the valley's towering cliffs, which ultimately could lead to identifying which ones are most vulnerable to rockfalls.
After the 2008 fall, the Associated Press reported that while Yosemite officials were aware of earlier studies showing Glacier Point was susceptible to rock falls they did not warn visitors and repaired and reused rock-battered cabins.
Cobb noted that damaged cabins had been repaired since the park's early years and that since 2006, when Yosemite's first geologist was hired, "we have never intentionally left open cabins or other high visitor use areas that we know to be susceptible to higher probability of rockfall."
"It is impractical to put signs at every location that may pose a risk to visitors," she added. "We are surrounded by 3,000 foot granite cliffs that actively experience rockfall about once per week at different locations. The most we can do is educate visitors and provide them safe accommodations while they are staying here."
Aug. 27, 2009: A tourist captured video of a rockslide in Yosemite National Park that forced the evacuation of the Ahwahnee Hotel. No injuries were reported.
Rockfalls in and around Curry Village have killed two people and injured two dozen since 1996, the AP stated. Since officials began keeping track in 1857, 15 people have died throughout the valley and 85 have been injured from falling rocks.
More than 900 rockfalls have been documented at Yosemite, the park stated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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YOSEMITE IS AWESOME !!!!!!!
Awesome except when you are trying to escape in a little mining car with Willie and Short Round and you've got ginormous rolling boulders chasing after you now. I just hope that the bridge covering the canyon full of alligators doesn't get cut when we're trying to cross.
hey DingleB does the B stand for berry by any chance??
@jakester-2264183
It's a long story, but since you asked, when I was a young lad my father was in to race cars. Not so much in to race cars as in sitting on the couch watching race cars go around in circles (although he did that too) but in to race cars as in actually racing the cars. Well one day he thought it a witty play on words to paint Dingle Berry Racing on the side of his car trailer, the witty play on words being that his last name was Berry. But alas, the joke was on him. Not realizing that a dingle berry was actually a little poop and TP conglomerate left dangling from a butt hair, he went some time before realizing his folly. So to answer your question, yes, and I say it with pride, "B" stands for Berry.
Good for you Dingle B: Your father has a good son. Regards
Thanks great story!
"Awesome except when you are trying to escape in a little mining car with Willie and Short Round and you've got ginormous rolling boulders chasing after you now. I just hope that the bridge covering the canyon full of alligators doesn't get cut when we're trying to cross."
Best Response Ever award winner for 2012
Now we call them Klingons.... :)
Most beautiful place on earth, IMHO. I've been up Half Dome 8 times or so. Every year since about 35 I swore I'd never do it again. Been up twice since then in the past 9 years.
All ya need is steel toe boots, safety glasses and a good hard hat. Wussy Park Service! (JK)
Yosemite is indeed awesome - but who at MSNBC is writing these stupid headlines . . . "to shutter" means to close or barricade windows and doors - hardly an appropriate term for closing off sections of Yosemite . . .. don't these editors use dictionaries any more - ? And while I am on ths rant, why is the word "iconic" being over-used . . . ?
Yep, definitely a jaw-dropper.... pictures (except for maybe Muir's) do no justice at all...
I am a little torn here. I understand the desire to protect the masses, but unless there was an immediate threat, I would think the opportunity to make an informed consent decision should be presented.
15 dead and 85 injured by rocks since 1857 ? Oh my gawd, lets close the place down. How many were killed in traffic accidents, how many did the bears get ? How many fell off the rocks ?
If I want to be protected from every conceivable hazard by somebody else the last place I would likely be is Yosemite. I would stay in a plastic bubble breathing air through a hepa filter, filtered water and certified organic vegetables. Instead I smoke, eat sushi and visit the back country.
If I want to experience perhaps one of the most beautiful places on earth and maybe die, so be it. It is called risk / reward. Do the math for yourself, do not let it be dictated
15 dead and 85 injured in 150 years?
Sounds like a wonderful opportunity for a class action attorney.
Sorry that's just foolish, when you can move these building and not have any deaths, or greatly reduce the possiblity. And it's a temporary imposition. Get over yourself.
I hope "Bugs" protects "Yosemite Sam" before He goes off half cocked and gets hurt. Sigh...........
I love the whole "I can make my own mind up about my personal safety" bit, but I am willing to bet you the instant a 90 ton boulder obliterates a cabin of Girl Scouts, you'd be first to crow "Why did they not move these when they had the chance?!?!"
Yes, I can actually make decisions regarding MY personal safety based on proper information and risk assesment. If I had a group of charges, the risk / reward equation is altered significantly. If I choose to skydive, bungee jump. spelunk, or take photos of El Captain from the base, likely I would be the only casualty in a worst case scenario. The cabin should not be arbtrarilly removed from service as much as usage restricted to willing participants of high risk activities. Personally I will take the moutain won't fall on me today over jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft just about any day.
The troop of scouts, obviously they should be housed in as close to risk free environments as possible regarding falls, yet you did not bat an eye packing them in buses or vans and placing them on the highway for hundreds of miles where the majority of all mayhem occurs. Risk / Reward.
Mark, I would agree with you except Yosemite has been busy trying to eliminate as many campsites as they can. If they are serious about moving ones in hazardous areas then they should move all of them, not just some.
They should leave it as it is. Let all visitors know the risks, 15 of you will die in 155 from a rock fall, All of you will die of old age before 155 years pass. 2 of you will die on your way home this year from your vaction here in a car accident. 1 of you will die this year in a violent crime. 2 of you will probably die from health risks including old age this year. the rest of you can enjoy the beauty that nature has created and that almost 400 million or so people have enjoyed safely.
There we go.
I'm thinking someone will go with ..mandatory helmets......in area........if so, they should be in same shape as Yosemite Sam's hat!
More and more rock falls have been happening so I think it is a good idea to make changes for safety reasons.
Just think how much smarter the early settlers must have been, since they didn't have the omniscient government to protect them from every conceivable danger, and yet they had the intelligence to survive.
I guess the gene pool is declining.
They didn't survive. Do you know any that are still alive? But seriously: life expectancy is much higher today.
Maybe they didn't survive until today but the government wasn't there building cabins under the cliffs for the public to wait for falling rocks.
*chuckle* Yeah, they were so smart they would get trapped in the mountains and die in the winter, or eat each other to survive, or they got were conned into walking to California because the gold was laying around to be picked up. Yeah, those folks were a lot smarter.
Perhaps the federal government wouldn't feel like it had to protect people if people weren't so darn stupid. It seems the folks that complain the most about the gubmint are the ones that turn around and shoot a propane tank to show off to his girlfriend, only to have it ricochet and blow his head off. Or the ones that claim it is their right to ride a motorsickle without a helmet, then expect other taxpayers to pay to clean up the pavement when their melon splits in two following a crash when the guy was expressing his freedom.
P.S. the original article on propane boy stated he decided not to shoot the tank, ejected the clip, and placed the gun to his head firing one shot, not the ricochet story that was picked up and propagated from msnbc.
Oops, one in the pipe.
The rescue team finds the crashed airplane. Ole, the lone survivor is chewing on a bone, with a huge pile of human bones next to him, and the rescuers are shocked. Ole says, "You cant judge me for this. I had to survive." The leader of the rescue team says, "But Jesus Christ, Ole... your plane only went down yesterday."
More drown than die from rockfall: turn OFF the water!
Or not.
Always seems to be a reason to remove lodging and picknic grounds, but somehow never a plan to replace them. Yosemite is becoming a place for the Rangers.
You obviously have not been to Yosemite in the last 20 years. The place has gotten so overcrowded with tourists it's ridiculous!
Then the answer is to limit the number of day trippers not campsites.
And I have been to Yosemite in the last 20 years though almost always in late May/early June. The campers are not the problem, the huge influx of people visiting for a day are.
that place is so crowded nobody goes there any more.
Yet another attempt to create something that does not actually exist=safety.
This chicken little mentality is getting out of hand.
Hehehehehe... OK, Mr. Chicken Big, I want to watch you catch a 2 pound piece of granite that fell from the top of Half Dome with your helmeted head, let alone the 1 ton chunk that rolls down from 100 feet high.
it duplicated
Whatever happened to "Sh*t Happens"?
It's only 20 cabins and employee dorms, a fraction of the guest accommodations. I as in Curry Village for the 2008 rock fall and trust me; you don’t WANT to stay in the cabins up by the cliff face (IMHO). I was glad I was in a tent by the parking lot. I was walking to the shower building when I heard a loud crack, looked up to see the rock fall, felt it the ground, and saw the dust cloud develop. It stopped me in my tracks so I turned around, packed up and got the heck out of the village before the parking lot was inundated with people.
There are a lot of places you don't to be when extreme events happen, New Orleans or Key West in a hurricane, The Bay Bridge during a 7+ quake, Joplin during a tornado. Okay these are extreme examples, and with the exception of Key West, for the most part, non voluntary participants. Knowing the rock can come down is an important fact to be aware of. You may die. The bus may jump the curb, you may die.
Every day I am required to engage in activities that may result in a fatality during the course of regular operation. Vacation is not exempt from that. Wild country, unbelievable beauty, cliff might fall, oh well, I hope today is not my day. I bet the stories of when I almost was killed, beat any slide-show.
Oh my, you stayed in an erosion area that resulted in falling rocks.
Well you learned a lesson. It's like camping on the beach during a high tide and wondering where the water came from.
The real story is who decided to put facilities in an obvious erosion area that was suspect to falling rock.
And remember, your tax dollars put those facilities there.
My comment was aimed at the first few commenters who were complaining about the NPS cutting back.
The cabins that were closed in ‘08 as well as the cabins being closed now should have been closed years ago. They are in an obvious boulder field and therefore likely to experience an event in the future. Places like Yosemite Valley are inherently dangerous and people do need to be responsible for their own wellbeing but the NPS should not have people sleeping at the base of a cliff that has a history of large rock falls. A park visitor has every reason to believe that the cabins are a safe place to stay and only realize the danger of their location when they walk up the rock strewn hill to their cabin. I highly doubt the Cub Scouts injured in ’08 were aware of the risk they were taking by staying there.
BTW John, if you camp on a beach and end up with a wet tent you’re an idiot. You can set your watch by the tides but there is no way to know when a cliff face will break up.
"Hey Boo Boo!, let's push a boulder on that house and go get their pic-a-nic basket."
Mr.ranger won't like that, Yogi. And who has stolen my Space Modulator ?
That was funny. :)
Global warming.
15 dead and 85 injured by rocks since 1857!? WTF. Closing part of the park because of this? So much for the land of the brave. Sounds like a setup and prelude to sell the park to the corporate oligarchs.
And we can't find money to build the necessary housing to move the staff? WTF. We certainly have enough to send 4 billion a week to the cesspools in Iraq and Afghanistan and pay for our worthless politicians.
They aren't closing parts of the park. Just the buildings in the danger area, but you can still go there if you want.
I love the Faux Outrage y'all can create over nothing.
I agree with 1984 above. 15 Deaths in 155 years may or may not be a large number. My only concern would be the increase we will see due to the number of crowds. Have an actuary run the numbers.
Dang that is a big rock. Just another sign that mother nature can kick our butt any time she so chooses. Humans are just insignificant little specks of dust on her earth. Even though humans can cause quite a bit of disruption ourselves.
Been going to Yosemite for 20 years straight. This is just another opty for the tree huggers to reduce opportunities for people to enjoy that wonderful place. They never rebuilt upper river after the floods which were the best campsites in the entire Valley. Now less cabins and more blocked off areas. We've been during all the major summer holidays and it's never too many people. Just let people enjoy it.
Solution: stay home and watch FOX news.
I loved the river campgrounds. And Upper River was reserved for tents only. Yosemite truly is trying to get rid of as many campsites as they can. I can't fault them for moving sites in dangerous areas but if they are going to do that move ALL of them. Not just some.
*SHOCK* Rocks fall from Cliffs who would a thunk it? Common Sense, sad to say, is increasingly uncommon.
The Big One is brewing that's why boulders are falling!! Soon California will be falling itself---right into the sea.
"The greatest rockfall danger is within 180 feet of the base of the cliffs, the study concluded". Let's all take a moment to allow this earth shaking and utterly unexpected conclusion to sink in. Science is awsome!
Are they saying that I cannot stand 179 feet from the base of the cliff and live? What a bunch of libtards. VOTE for Romney, he will make us safe even if we stand 178 feet from the base. I know because he did it when he was Goober of Massabation. All science is a LIE made up by the haters of JESUS! Praise his name, Amen.
Proof: I has stood out in the field for 63 years and a rock never hit my little head, except that one thrown by Billy in the second grade! Did I say VOTE for Romney?
This just in: cave man hit by rock, falls down, dies. Family looks up to top of cliff, sees more rocks like the one that killed their loved one. Cave family moves.
Jesus, they are just now getting a handle on the geology there? The effects of gravity and mass wastage have been know for centuries. Newton anyone? Great work there Smokey! Keep up the evolution of consciousness.
Yep, it would seem to make sense but in southern california there are some round rocks as big as a house on the side of a mountain with houses built right below them. My ex-wife's cousin owned one of them.
$5 a night for those cabins! Get your crap together california! at least $40 a night. You wonder why they are bankrupt!
Hell, why not $400 per night AND a little romp with the wife thrown in to boot. Why not get all you can from the dopes who want to look at wilderness before EXXON paints it all black. You think I am kidding, right? EXXON has built a tanker truck that can deliver 500 gallons of tar sand residues per second in a fine mist up to 3000 feet from the road it drives along. The idea is that it will change the color of your house and yard so slowly, you wont notice. Where do you think they are going to get rid of that unwanted result of the petroleum cracking process? Some of the smarter engineers who work for EXXON named this monster, 'Cheney's Revenge.' I think they had Montezuma's Revenge in mind, don't you?
crack..yosemite is a national park they set the fees
Then move all the cabins/campsites.
Yosemite is already on record for wanting to eliminate a large number of the campsites. They can't do anything about the Lodge or Awahnee and I doubt they'd try. It's far easier to go after campsites used by working/middle class people than hotels used by the wealthier set.
So why not reopen at least a portion of the River campgrounds. Doesn't even need to the ones right next to the river, the others would be fine. But no, they won't.
I will say though it will be entertaining if they ever try to take on the climbers and their campground. Noticed they didn't even try not to reopen the eight sites they had to close.
I was just there in Yosemite last month-perfect weather..really an amazing place to visit..bigger than life. The ranger said the only person killed by an animal wasn't a bear..but, a deer...they are everywhere..like dogs running around the valley..you pass by a building and in the bushes you'll see a huge deer just laying there or walking around. They are skitish, though and I guess...reared up and attacked the person getting too close. People are really stupid about wild animals...like in Yellowstone, the man getting really close to photograph a wild bear with a big mac burger in one hand...and, the parents who smeared honey on a 2yr old hands so the bear would 'lick her hands.' Well, it wasn't pretty what he did to her..I think the stupid parents were arrested.
The medics have lots of stories of visitors to these parks...there is always some person...posing off Glacier Point in Yosemite for that perfect picture...one slip--down 3,000 ft. Just last year...3 young people..just graduated from college..the girl climbed over the barrier at, I believe Nevada Falls for a photo-standing on a rock in the river just above the falls drop off...a guy in her group saw her...and, climbed over on the slippery rocks where the river was flowing really heavy to help her...another guy saw his friend go to the rescue and climbed over, himself...the people climbing up the falls on the trail..say they will never forget the look on the guy's face as he was going over the falls! Shock and surprise and ...? All 3 died and a two of the bodies weren't recovered for months...People don't care about the warning signs. These were all supposedly smart medical students...worked for years for their degrees...at least they won't have to pay back the school loans..very sad. The whole group they came up with were in shock and I am so glad I didn't see that...
I wouldn't worry about the rock falls...it is very rare.. Enjoy and don't climb over the warning signs, please. I know you won't...
dont you guys know thatyosemite sam is up there pushing boulders on tourists? hes very upset that there are too many tourist breathin his oxygen, rassle frassle rad dangit no good varmit tourists!!!
Actually it's good that park officials are closing some camping and housing facilities. Also good that negative news such as this is coming out of Yosemite, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Why? Because Yosemite has been taken over by tourists, many from overseas, who have absolutely no concept of environmental awareness. Carbon dioxide emanating from automobiles are destroying trees in the park, even with the advent of bus transportation for campers camping in Yosemite Valley. I remember when I was a young boy back in the 1950's. Our family - native Californians - could just drive into Yosemite and pitch a camp. There were plenty of campsites. Now I understand one must make a reservation at least two years in advance to get a campsite. This is all due to magazines such as National Geographic and the US Forest Service that promotes Yosemite, not-to-mention the hundreds of private concessionaires who proliferate that beautiful park. It's become an ecological nightmare, as well as a concrete jungle. If John Muir could see it now he would literally weep, I have absolutely no doubt.