Yosemite new "hazard zone" closures
Posted: Jun 14 2012 6:23 am
The NPS will announce today the result of new, comprehensive geologic studies of the Yosemite Valley and immediately close parts of Curry Village and some employee housing due to danger from a potential Glacier Point rockfall.
Also included in a newly-defined "Hazard Zone" is El Capitan, though the only closure there will be some campsites at Camp 4 (the walk-in camp used primarily by climbers) due to the lack of permanent structures in it's way.
I'm sure this will be more clear when the NPS makes the announcement later today.
For now, there is an AP article that can be found just about anywhere online, including here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... 55590338/1
Fair Use Excerpt:
Also included in a newly-defined "Hazard Zone" is El Capitan, though the only closure there will be some campsites at Camp 4 (the walk-in camp used primarily by climbers) due to the lack of permanent structures in it's way.
I'm sure this will be more clear when the NPS makes the announcement later today.
For now, there is an AP article that can be found just about anywhere online, including here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... 55590338/1
Fair Use Excerpt:
"Rock falls are common in Yosemite Valley, California, posing substantial hazard and risk to the approximately four million annual visitors to Yosemite National Park," reads the ominous opening line of the report.
The move to close parts of historic Curry Village, a camp of canvas and wooden cabins, comes four years after the equivalent of 570 dump trucks of boulders hit 17 cabins, flattened one and sent schoolchildren scrambling for their lives. The park fenced off 233 of the 600 cabins in the village.
The new report, obtained by The Associated Press, now identifies 18 more that will be closed Thursday.
Rock falls in and around the century-old Curry Village have killed two people and injured two dozen others since 1996. Since officials began keeping track in 1857, 15 people have died throughout the valley and 85 have been injured from falling rocks.
This new study, prompted by the 2008 Curry event, is the first to assess risk to people. Officials say dangers exist in nearly every national park but they are particularly acute in Yosemite given its unstable geology, which causes rock falls weekly. Park officials will use the study to develop policy that guides future planning.
Also on the closure list: a half-dozen sites at Camp 4, a $5-a-night camping bargain near El Capitan used mainly by climbers.
