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Tag: Mountains

  • Yosemite Rockfall: Massive Boulders Block Trail

    A rockfall on March 31 at Yosemite National Park in California has blocked a hiking trail.

    About 16,000 tons of rocks fell from a cliff near the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, causing a cloud of smoke.

    The fall was reportedly a 500 foot drop.

    Some of the boulders broke into pieces hitting nearby trees before tumbling into water. Other boulders have caused the Rancheria Falls Trail to be closed.

    The boulders caused damage to the trail. Park officials decided to close the area for safety reasons.

    Now that the trail is currently blocked off, there are other routes hikers can take to the park’s attractive Wapama Falls, which is one of the largest waterfalls positioned on the northern wall of Hetch Hetchy Valley.

    According to Fox 40: “The trail is the primary route to Wapama Falls, and will be closed until further notice. However, hikers can still access Wapama Falls by starting their hike from the O’Shaughnessy Dam.”

    Yosemite National Park extends across the Sierra Nevada Mountains and covers more than 745,000 acres.

    The park is commonly known for its impressive cliffs, streams, waterfalls, and of course, trails.

    Approximately 95 percent of the park consists of wildlife including White-tailed Jackrabbits, Rubber Boas, Mountain Beavers, and Great Grey Owls.

    The Yosemite park is made of older rocks and granitic rocks. Rock climbing is a big part of the park’s available attractions, which provides classes for rock climbers.

    Additionally, the open trails at the park span over 800 miles in distance. Since the park is divided into five sections, there are trails available to hikers in various areas.

    The last deadly rockfall occurred in 1996 when 162,000 tons of boulders fell to the ground. The incident reportedly killed one out of 12 hikers in the Yosemite Valley that day.

    Nobody was injured during the massive rockfall at the Rancheria Falls Trail.

    Here is very brief footage of rocks falling at the park:

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Missing Nevada Family Found Alive

    Two adults and four children were found alive on Tuesday nestled together inside Trinity Canyon located in the Seven Troughs Range. Thirty-four-year-old James Glanton, 25-year-old Christina MacIntee, the couple’s children (a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old), 10-year-old niece Shelby Fitzpatrick, and a 4-year-old nephew had been missing since Sunday night when the group left to enjoy sledding and playing in the snow. Amanda Fitzpatrick, who is Shelby’s mother, spoke with Piers Morgan of CNN about the ordeal. “It’s been extremely hard, probably the hardest 24 to 36 hours of my life. It’s my baby girl.”

    Sheriff Richard Machado spoke about the harsh weather conditions. “The temperatures out here are very cold, and we’d like to bring a successful end to this. We’d like to find them, just as soon as we can,” Machado said prior to the recovery.

    Planes, vehicles, and helicopters were all used during the search efforts; however, a volunteer with a pair of binoculars actually spotted the family. The rescuer used the binoculars to scan the mountainside when the image of the family huddled together came into view. According to Pershing General Hospital CEO Patty Bianchi, the family has “no frostbite, just some exposure issues.”

    Finding the family was the result of the collaborative search efforts from volunteers as well as service personnel. More than 200 people were involved in the search efforts that covered nearly 6,000 square miles. Nevada Wing Commander Colonel Tim Hahn released the following statement, “The cell phone forensics team pinpointed where they could not possibly be. This morning they provided a key clue that redirected the search and led to the rescue.”

    The couple’s jeep rolled off the road and was stuck in an area 15 miles away from Lovelock. However, Glanton and MacIntee managed to keep the children warm during the days stranded in the cold. Bianchi said that the couple “did a fabulous job keeping them [the children] warm.”

    Pershing County Undersheriff Thomas Bjerke spoke about the miraculous event that saved a family just before Christmas. “They are in pretty good shape,” Bjerke said.

    [Image Via NDN]

  • Norway Town: Winter Sun Makes First Appearance Thanks To Mirrors

    Imagine living in a town settled in the shadows of mountains for half the year. In order to feel the sun on your face–which most of us take for granted–you must take a cable car up said mountains. That’s exactly what the town of Stavanger, Norway has done for six months out of the year…until now.

    Thanks to giant mirrors placed above the town, the sun’s rays now reach into the valley, and on Wednesday residents crowded into the town square to catch a glimpse and feel some of the warmth on their skin.

    “Before when it was a fine day, you would see that the sky was blue and you knew that the sun was shining. But you couldn’t quite see it. It was very frustrating,” said Karin Roe. “This feels warm. When there is no time to get to the top of the mountains on weekdays, it will be lovely to come out for an hour and feel this warmth on my face.”

    The town normally endures freezing temperatures throughout much of the winter, but the winter sun warmed things up a bit to about 45 degrees on Wednesday. Residents wore sunglasses and sat on lounge chairs like those normally seen beside a pool, waving Norwegian flags to welcome the sunlight.

    The town was built by Sam Eyde, who wanted to provide a place for workers at a nearby hydroelectric plant to live. The plant holds a place in history; during World War II, it was taken over by Hitler and his men in his attempts to procure an atomic bomb using “heavy water”, but the Norwegian resistance sabotaged their efforts by parachuting into the area and destroying the plant. The story was told in the 1965 film “The Heroes of Telemark”, which is being remade into a mini-series by Danny Boyle.

  • Google Takes You Atop the Tallest Mountains in the World with Insane New Street View Imagery

    Google has taken its Google Maps team to some awesome places to capture some amazing street view imagery. Recent expeditions that come to mind include treks to the Arctic, the Grand Canyon, and under the sea. But this just might be the coolest Street View imagery yet.

    Starting today, you can check out some incredible Street View images from the tops of some of the tallest mountains in the world.

    “Now you can explore some of the most famous mountains on Earth, including Aconcagua (South America), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Elbrus (Europe) and Everest Base Camp (Asia) on Google Maps. These mountains belong to the group of peaks known as the Seven Summits—the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. While there’s nothing quite like standing on the mountain, with Google Maps you can instantly transport yourself to the top of these peaks and enjoy the sights without all of the avalanches, rock slides, crevasses, and dangers from altitude and weather that mountaineers face,” says Google.

    Check out Uhuru, which at 19,341 ft. is the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro. Or Russia’s Mount Elbrus and its small encampment of huts made from Soviet-era fuel barrels.

    Seen below is the Aconcagua summit, the highest mountain in South America and the highest point viewable in Street View (22,800 ft):

    This awesome imagery is the work of years of climbing, starting in 2011 with a trip to Everest base camp.

    “This imagery was collected with a simple lightweight tripod and digital camera with a fisheye lens—equipment typically used for our Business Photos program,” says Google’s “lead adventurer” Dan Fredinburg.

    “In every one of these trips you are going up against the elements,” he told The L.A. Times. “In the Everest expedition, a plane crashed similar to the one that we were on to get in, and after that, there was three days of mudslides, snowstorms and then there was the earthquake, which was a 6.9 magnitude earthquake which was absolutely terrifying for everyone who was on the expedition as well as the locals.”

    You can start exploring the World’s Highest Peaks gallery here.

  • Here’s What It Looks Like When You Fall Down a Mountain

    This terrifying first-person look at a climbing mishap is your nope, nope, and triple nope of the day. Amazingly, the climber is moving at the end of this 100-ft.+ fall.

  • Goat Man is Apparently Just a Hunter with Questionable Fashion Sense

    Goat Man quickly gained some Internet fame over the past 48 hours, sending imaginations into overdrive as a result. His rise to international fame began when photographer Coty Creighton spotted the guy during a hike through the Utah mountains. He described his encounter as “creepy”, particularly since they were the only two human beings for miles around. If I saw a guy dressed as a goat wandering through the wilderness, I’d probably be a little unsettled, too.

    The myths that sprung up around the Goat Man story are ultimately more satisfying that the truth, which is almost always the case. The official explanation is thus: Goat Man is nothing more than a hunter trying out his goat-oriented camouflage to test its effectiveness in the field. According to officials, the man, whose name was not given, is preparing to hunt mountain goats in the near future, an event which apparently calls for a crudely-fashioned goat outfit. Why he continued to act like a goat once he was separated from the rest of the herd is beyond me. Truthfully, the whole explanation smells like a crock of monkey snot.

    A hunter wearing a painter’s outfit with a little fleece on the side is just too easy. Besides, it doesn’t account for the man’s peculiar behavior. I’m generally not one for rampant speculation, but here’s my theory: Goat Man got busted by a photographer for acting like a goat, which he attempted to explain away with this whole hunter rigamarole. I refuse to believe that a man who would dress up and act like an animal to such an extreme degree would turn around and shoot one with a bow and arrow. Maybe I’m just naive.

    As someone pointed out on Twitter, it’s much more fun to believe in Goat Man than to face the fact that he’s probably nothing more than a hunter studying his prey. Although I never believed this individual to be some sort of cryptozoological wonder, I rather enjoyed picturing some kind-hearted soul prancing through the woods with the only creatures on the planet who truly understood him. A wise man once said, “Reality hits you hard, bro.”

    Guess what? I’m not the only person who is disappointed by the truth behind Goat Man’s origins. Below you can sample some Twitter reactions to the news. Like me, people seem to be taking this pretty hard. In my mind, Goat Man lives on, crawling through life on his hands and knees while wearing a shoddy costume. That, for some strange reason, makes me happy.

  • Google Earth Adds New Mountain Features

    Google said today it has added new features to its “Mountains” layer in Google Earth.

    To view the “Mountains” layer users can check the left layers panel in Google Earth. By clicking on a green icon users can view information about a particular mountain. The information appears in a bubble form and includes elevation, a link to a KML tour, a link to an article about the mountain and a slide deck of Panoramio pictures. Hovering over an image will display arrows with additional photos.

    In the “Elevation Profile” section users can view cross sections of a mountain in four directions. The cross section is displayed as a black line on the shaded relief image of the mountain.


    The Google+LatLong%29″>Lat Long Blog offers more information. “We’re also excited to show off the tours created for each and every mountain. Click on the ‘Fly on a tour’ link to download a KML tour. Hit the ‘Play’ icon once the tour has downloaded and you’ll be taken to a vantage point near the peak and flown in a circle to take in the views.”

    “We’ve also added hundreds of thousands of new labels for water bodies all over the world. Click on the ‘Water Bodies’ label just underneath ‘Mountains’ in the layer panel to see new labels for seas, bays, lakes, and reservoirs (rivers are not yet labeled).”