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U.S. NEWS Saturday 30 September 2017

Double rock falls at famed Yosemite don’t deter climbers

By SCOTT SMITH tional park. on the massive mountain rock and rubble broke as he headed into the park
Associated Press Climber Ryan Sheridan, that unaffected by the through the sunroof of for his first trip, but he said
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, of Buffalo, New York, had slide. his SUV, hitting Jim Evans, he wasn’t concerned.
Calif. (AP) — In the close- “Mother Earth changes ev-
knit community of climb- ery day, and we just have
ers who flock from around to get used to it, I guess,”
the world to cling to the he said Friday.
mountainside precipices Wednesday’s slide killed
at Yosemite National Park, Andrew Foster, 32, of Wales,
climbers were awed but who was hiking with his wife
undeterred by successive at the bottom of El Capitan
rock falls that sent tons of far from trails used by most
granite plunging to the Yosemite visitors, prepar-
ground, killing one and in- ing to ascend El Capitan.
juring two over two days. Foster’s former colleagues
“It’s kind of an inherently at the Up and Under out-
dangerous sport,” Hayden door gear store in Cardiff,
Jamieson, 24, of Mam- Wales, recalled him Friday
moth Lakes, California, in a statement as a man
said Friday, as he prepared whose passion for the out-
to head up the nose of El doors, “and mountains in
Capitan early Saturday particular, was enormous
with his climbing partner. and infectious.”His wife,
Jamieson said he feels Lucy, was seriously injured
more at risk of being struck in the rock fall.
by a car on the street than Rocks at the world-re-
from a falling slab of gran- nowned park’s climbing
ite in the wilderness. But routes break loose and
the aftermath of a slab of In this photo provided by Peter Zabrok, climber Ryan Sheridan who had just reached the top of crash down about 80 times
granite about 12 stories El Capitan, a 7,569-foot (2,307 meter) formation, when a rock slide let loose below him Thursday, a year. The elite climbers
high that shattered to the Sept. 28, 2017, in Yosemite National Park, Calif. who flock to the park using
ground on Wednesday (Peter Zabrok via AP) ropes and their fingertips to
had left a big impression. been scaling the route for “Those are things you can’t of Naples, Florida, in the defy death as they scale
“It was totally overwhelm- days with a climbing part- really control, and it’s an head, said his wife. sheer cliff faces know the
ing,” he said of the crash ner when the rock let loose inherent risk people who His wife, Rachel Evans, told risk but also know it’s rare
and acrid smell of granite below them Wednesday. climb take. Freak acci- KSEE-TV of Fresno (http:// to get hit and killed by the
dust that lingered in the air. He said he and his partner, dents happen,” Sheridan bit.ly/2x1EnIU ) that the rocks.The last time a climb-
“It’s like witnessing the larg- Peter Zabrok, had slept on said. family had just finished a er was killed by falling rock
est natural event that I’ve the wall in the fall zone a Still, some climbers ac- three-day visit to Yosemite. at Yosemite was in 2013,
ever seen.” couple of nights before knowledged stress as they “We didn’t know what had when a Montana climber
The first slab fell from a it came crumbling down weighed whether to take happened, but it shattered fell after a rock dislodged
peak at the world-class and he noticed the rock one of 100-some routes (the glass) and the dust and sliced his climbing
climbing destination El was loose. up El Capitan or any other just poured in,” Evans said. rope. It was preceded by a
Capitan on Wednesday Sheridan, 25, said he ham- big climbs in the park right “We were trying to outrun 1999 rock fall that crushed
afternoon, followed by mered a pin onto the wall now, said Josh Edwards, it; it was like ‘Go! Let’s go!’ a climber from Colorado.
a much larger chunk of and “when you hit the wall, 21, of Bend, Oregon. and at the same time my Park officials say rock falls
granite from the same sec- you could hear echo all “It’s kind of scary thinking husband reached up and overall have killed 16 peo-
tion of the mountainside around you.” that an entire cliff side can he was like ‘Oh, my head, ple since 1857 and injured
Thursday afternoon. Thurs- The duo continued climb- come off,” Edwards said. my head’ because it was more than 100.The rock
day’s crash sent a plume ing and reached the sum- “The general feeling is ev- bleeding profusely and falls came during the peak
of granite dust throughout mit Thursday, after a sec- erybody’s a little scared. At hurting.” of the climbing season for
the Yosemite Valley, where ond rock slide plunged least I am.” Ian Mort, 60, of Los Ange- El Capitan, with climbers
thousands of tourists flock down. After descending Thursday’s crash injured a les, could smell the dust from around the world try-
every year, and closed a Friday, though, he said man who was driving out and he sat in jammed traf- ing their skill against the
main road out of the na- there are dozens of routes of the national park when fic after Thursday’s rock fall sheer cliff faces.q