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ABC7.com: YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

At least one person was killed and one injured when a rockslide was triggered at Yosemite National Park's popular El Capitan rock formation, officials said.

A large rock fell near the East Buttress climbing route on El Capitan at around 1:55 p.m., a park spokesperson said.


Phone interview with climber on the face above the fall site

At least 30 climbers were on the wall at the time, but it was not clear if the victims were climbers or tourists, ranger Scott Gediman said.

A search was launched for climbers who may have been caught in the rockslide.

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Happened at 1:52pm pic.twitter.com/j7Vo0XwR67
— Jon Kameen (@JonKameen) September 27, 2017

El Capitan is one of the world's largest granite monoliths, towering 4,000 feet above Yosemite Valley.

Mountaineers from around the world travel to the park in the Sierra Nevada to scale El Capitan's sheer face. Fall is one of the peak seasons because the days are long and the weather is warm.

Rock falls are common in Yosemite but seldom fatal.

Climber Kevin Jorgeson said he and climbing partner Tommy Caldwell witnessed a massive rock fall in the same area while they prepared for a trek that made them the first people to free-climb the Dawn Wall on El Capitan in 2015.

First they heard a rumble and then they saw a white cloud of dust.

"Yosemite is just a really active, wild place. It's always changing," Jorgeson said. "It doesn't make it any less tragic when someone gets in the way of that."

Park officials are investigating how the rockslide started.

The park itself remains open and other visitor services are not affected.

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Originally posted by Fenris:
Rocks are dangerous. The government should ban rocks. No one needs that many rocks. If it saves just one child....

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Originally posted by GWbiker:

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Originally posted by Fenris:
Rocks are dangerous. The government should ban rocks. No one needs that many rocks. If it saves just one child....

No, no, no, it's that stupid Gravity law that should be overturned.

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www.latimes.com: Second rockfall at Yosemite's El Capitan '10 times bigger' than slide that killed tourist a day earlier, witness says


A yellow border electronically superimposed on an image of Yosemite National Park's El Capitan outlines the scar of a [130 foot long, 65 foot wide, and in some sections 10 foot thick] granite slab that separated from the rock face and fell Wednesday, killing a British tourist and injuring his female companion. (National Park Service)

Joseph Serna and Alene TchekmedyianContact Reporters

A massive hunk of rock fell off Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan on Thursday, a day after a rockfall in the same area of the granite monolith killed a British tourist and seriously injured his wife, park officials said.

One person was hurt in Thursday’s slide, though it was unclear if the individual was a climber or a motorist. Tourists were asked to use Southside Drive to exit Yosemite Valley, as the rockfall left Northside Drive closed.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” said Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Assn., who saw the aftermath of the rockfall. “From what I hear, we got really lucky.”

A rock the size of a golf ball could be fatal, he said, and he estimated Thursday’s fall was “10 times bigger” than the colossal chunk that broke off a day earlier.

“That anybody survived, it just blows my mind,” he said.

Yager was coordinating a park cleanup when he saw a dust cloud, from about a mile away, billowing from the formation. Immediately, his phone began buzzing as people tried to figure out what had happened and emergency crews rolled to the scene.

“After yesterday, I guarantee there’s no climbers climbing near that rock,” he said. “If they were, they’re crazy.”

On Wednesday, a sheet of granite the height of a 13-story building — about 130 feet long, 65 feet wide and in some sections 10 feet thick — separated from the rock face and dropped to the base of El Capitan, officials said.

A couple were apparently standing at the base of the cliff at the time of the crash. The man who was killed was identified Thursday as Andrew Foster, 32, of Wales, according to the National Park Service. His wife was airlifted to a hospital; her name has not been released.

The slab fell from a spot about 1,800 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor, officials said.

It was one of seven rockfalls that occurred in a four-hour span on a bright and sunny afternoon. In total, officials estimate about 1,300 tons of rock fell from El Capitan on Wednesday.

About 30 climbers were on El Capitan just before 2 p.m. Wednesday when the slab crashed down from the popular East Buttress climbing route, officials said.

The release point appears to have been near the waterfall route, where the seasonal Horsetail Fall flows in the winter and spring. The site draws experienced climbers from around the world seeking to scale the granite cliff face, which towers more than 3,000 feet above Yosemite Valley.

ROSAL

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I hit this link looking for info and it's amazing how many news vultures there are spamming this guy.

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Originally posted by Veeper:
I hit this link looking for info and it's amazing how many news vultures there are spamming this guy.

http://pic.twitter.com/j7Vo0XwR67

Incredible.

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A man injured in the second massive rock fall at Yosemite was driving out of the 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.

Evans was airlifted to a hospital in Modesto, California, and is expected to survive, Fresno television station KSEE

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Originally posted by Sig2340:
Damn. I planned to climb that route in my next lifetime.

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Originally posted by Poacher:

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Originally posted by Veeper:
I hit this link looking for info and it's amazing how many news vultures there are spamming this guy.

http://pic.twitter.com/j7Vo0XwR67

Incredible.

How many idiots have to ask him if he took the photo?