Learning from the recent tragedy...

If you've been searching for the best source of information and stimulating discussion related to Spring/Summer/Fall backpacking, hiking and camping in the Sierra Nevada...look no further!
User avatar
EastSideClimb
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:42 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by EastSideClimb »

I drove up 120 from Lee Vining on Sunday into the most ominous looking Hell-Cloud I'd ever seen in the Sierra. Right at the worst possible spot an RV overheated causeing a traffic Jam midway up the grade in the worst possible spot. Heavy rain and hail was pelting my car as I drove around the RV and continued up the steep road not yet to the scenic overlooks of the canyon. I came around the corner and counted 15+ beach ball size boulders on the road way and several coming fast off the mountain towards us. I've never been so scared in my entire life...and I climbed Half Dome 2 weeks ago (the other scariest thing I've had happen in my life recently).

Finally, after weaving around several boulder and timing others rolling down, over, and off the road way (sheer drop on south ride of the road) I made it to the relative safety of the Park Entrance. After the storm lessened around Tenya, I stopped at Olmsted Pt. to gaze at my recently accomplished feat (climbing the Dome). I told my wife and another tourist that "Surely nobody is up there today." I was wrong. That storm, and the previous 3 days were the worst T-Storms I've ever experienced and to attempt Half Dome in those conditions was a disaster waiting to happen. Although I have sympathy for the woman in this tragedy, people need to know that the granite is sooooo slick even in dry conditions. At several instances while climbing the cables, I had some panicked moments of "Fred Flinstone" running in place.

Moral of the story is I have a new deep respect for the dangers of the high country, and have been deeply humbled by my recent experiences. In the past month, I've encountered:

1. Crowds and steep conditions on Half Dome.
2. A Mother Bear with Cub near Deadman Creek
3. Rock slides on Tioga
4. Hostile "Local" attitude in Mammoth Lakes.

I will be prepared for just about anything on my next trip.
User avatar
ManOfTooManySports
Topix Regular
Posts: 142
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:58 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by ManOfTooManySports »

I was on 120 on Saturday. It was pretty hairy with the boulders and debris.

Maybe an unintended consequence of the permitting for Half Dome is there is now no second chance to go up. If you get shut out one day, you can't go up the next. And if you miss your one day, you can't even go later in the season, you have to wait until next year. I wonder if this makes people more reckless than otherwise.

The cables by themselves are somewhat daunting, but I can handle that. What bothered me was the crowds (this before the permitting process). People were in sneakers and otherwise unprepared for what they were going to face. Sometimes I felt like a pin waiting for a bowling ball.
User avatar
michaeljones
Topix Novice
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:05 am
Experience: N/A

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by michaeljones »

Wild Bill wrote:This year is proving especially deadly. Now a woman falls off Half Dome.

http://news.yahoo.com/600-foot-fall-mar ... 29077.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michaeljones: Was your August snow story from '72? I did the same August 1972 at Wilbur May Lake.
Remember it well.
That had to be the year Bill...I was about 15 years old. I wish I'd kept a diary of my trips back then. Or thought to take a camera...
User avatar
Hobbes
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:09 am
Experience: N/A
Location: The OC

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by Hobbes »

EastSideClimb wrote:I drove up 120 from Lee Vining. I came around the corner and counted 15+ beach ball size boulders on the road way and several coming fast off the mountain towards us.
We typically spend our annual family car camping trip down in the June lake loop. (Don't ask - it's a major production with kids, friends, pets, etc.) However, we're constantly going back/forth up to Saddlebag/Tuolumne on a regular basis to fish, day hike, etc.

But, even when it's perfectly clear, I always say a little prayer when we jam through the Blue slide. As we're descending, I usually like to point out to my wife that if the hillside gave way at that moment, we could ride the boulder surf all the way down to the Big Bend/Aspen campgrounds. LOL
User avatar
EastSideClimb
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:42 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by EastSideClimb »

Hobbes,
I've been stuck in traffic due to road work on that same stretch. Luckily it was a clear sunny day, but even then there were boulders in strange places on the road side. I literally had a panic attack while driving, arms numb the whole deal. I'll never forget that diamond shaped boulder careening end over end about 10 feet ahead of me.

But what really pissed me off was at the East Entrance, the Parks people were still taking their time at the gates collecting money and handing out maps while the line backed up passed Tioga Lake down towards Ellory. It was an Exodus on Sunday given the grim forecast, I would have rather for safety sake, the Park Rangers just wave traffic though to the much more safe environs of Dana and TM. They must have been getting several reports of the rocks on the roadway.

Just my two cents.
Cross Country
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1328
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:16 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by Cross Country »

I believe that of all the threads I've read on HST, this one has the best and well thought out entries of any. I wish to commend everyone and their entries --Really -- all of them! I want to add my thought. It's this: every year is different, some quite benign, some really dangerous. This year is the most dangerous of the last 40 years (at least). Please keep this in mind -- EVERYONE.
User avatar
rlown
Topix Docent
Posts: 8225
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:00 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Wilton, CA

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by rlown »

Hobbes wrote:
EastSideClimb wrote:I drove up 120 from Lee Vining. I came around the corner and counted 15+ beach ball size boulders on the road way and several coming fast off the mountain towards us.
We typically spend our annual family car camping trip down in the June lake loop. (Don't ask - it's a major production with kids, friends, pets, etc.) However, we're constantly going back/forth up to Saddlebag/Tuolumne on a regular basis to fish, day hike, etc.

But, even when it's perfectly clear, I always say a little prayer when we jam through the Blue slide. As we're descending, I usually like to point out to my wife that if the hillside gave way at that moment, we could ride the boulder surf all the way down to the Big Bend/Aspen campgrounds. LOL
Now, put me on skis for the first time, late November '93 with a friend on a 6 day winter trip. We hiked up 120 on the east entry as the 60mph winds wiped all the snow off the road. Gate was closed at the bottom, so kind of a slog. Looking up at that hillside of crap waiting to fall, covered in snow was, well, uncomfortable. I thought a LOT about what i saw above me on the way up, and after the storms we had that time, on the way down. Skied all over above Saddlebag and Tioga for 3 days. got 10" of snow while we were there.

One of my best trips. Didn't die. I think it's more about assessment and execution. Most of the stories we hear about are those that don't really appreciate how easily one can make a bad decision.
User avatar
Hobbes
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:09 am
Experience: N/A
Location: The OC

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by Hobbes »

rlown wrote: a 6 day winter trip.
You guys are hardcore; I'm a soft 1 season camper. Even so, going up in the summer can still deal out some extremes. Here's a picture of our dog/son on the way back from Parker the day they opened Tioga last year, and here's the same day later in the afternoon @ Dana meadows:

Image
Image
Yes, there were 10 zillion x-country skiers bounding off into the wilderness.

Ditto for this year. Pic 1 - Sonora pass a few days after it re-opened for good. Pic 2 - Lane lake (Leavitt) the next morning.
Image
Image
User avatar
rlown
Topix Docent
Posts: 8225
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:00 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Wilton, CA

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by rlown »

nice.. and your dog and you all didn't die. because you looked at conditions, and took care. nice dog, btw. not the breed I would expect out there, but I'm sure he's happy you care.
User avatar
hikerchick395
Topix Regular
Posts: 174
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:41 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Round Valley, Bishop

Re: Learning from the recent tragedy...

Post by hikerchick395 »

I got tagged by a 70 pound rock in the Blue Slide area in June of 2006. The Toyota and the rock...I retrieved it two days later...still sit in the yard. (Dang...gotta get rid of that truck...)

Luckily, no tragedy resulted, but lessons should be learned from the flash flood up above Whitney Portal on Friday. Reports had hikers, including young children, still attempting to climb on the upper portions of the trail during the storm. Others were caught without sufficient food or clothing. Sounded like complete chaos up there.

Heres the Yosemite Conservancy's cam view of lightning on Half Dome on Sunday.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 144 guests