More major rockfall in Yosemite Valley

A major rockfall in Yosemite Valley has closed the historical Ahwahnee Hotel. The rock fell from the Royal Arches formation, site of a number of challenging climbs, one of which was for many years considered a challenging climb that every Yosemite rock climber had to do.

The Valley has seen a number of significant rockfalls in recent years, although rock fall has been a feature of the Valley since well before it was first visited by John Muir. This rockfall left rocks in the Ahwanee parking lot and resulted in the closure of a popular campground nearby. Last year, rockfall from Glacier Point resulted in damage to Camp Curry and the closure of a large number of the tent-cabins.

I tried to link to a couple of news articles that give more complete details, but the sources (San Francisco Chronicle, for one) blocked links. If you look on Google under "yosemite rock fall 2009" you can get working links.

Wow - first I'd heard of this. I climbed Royal Arches years ago, and paid a couple of visits to the Ahwahnee for food and festivity on a valley climbing trip last year. Hope no one was hurt, and that these climbing landmarks are quickly back in safe use. (Gotta go find the articles now...)

When I hiked in Yosemite in 1980 a huge rockfall came down the upper part of the Yosemite Falls trail killing 3-4 hikers and taking out 3/4 of a mile of trail and broke off large Ponderosa Pines like toothpicks.

And in 2002? a rockfall came off of Glacier Point and took out some of the upper Curry employee tent cabins.

Try this-

http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/1616691.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/27/BAS419EE3D.DTL

Royal Arches route was my very first climb in Yosemite, way back in 1981. The rotten log was still in place back then.

Ahwahnee hotel? Parking lot? Closed a popular campground? Closed a large number of tent cabins? What kind of National Park are they running out there in the Yosemite valley? Sounds like Gatlinburg.