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500 are forced to leave Curry Village overnight.
By Carl Nolte
San Francisco Chronicle - November 18, 1998
A rockslide came roaring down a 3,000-foot cliff onto an area near Curry Village
in Yosemite Valley just after dark Monday, narrowly missing a number of cabins
occupied by park employees and visitors.
It was the second rockslide from the cliffs below Glacier Point in two years.
A similar slide in 1996 during the height of the tourist season killed a visitor,
who was hit by a huge boulder.
No one was injured in the latest incident, which occurred just after 5 p.m.
The rockslide left what Yosemite Concession Services spokesman Keith Walklet
called ``an obvious scar'' on the cliff between the valley floor and the famous
Glacier Point overlook.
Many people in the valley heard the rock fall.
It made a sound ``like a low rumbling, and scraping sound that lasted about
a minute,'' park spokeswoman Christine Cowles said.
About 500 occupants of cabins in the Curry Village area had to leave for the
night while National Park Service rangers evaluated the damage and tried to
make sure no more rock would fall.
Rockslides are fairly common in Yosemite, according to National Park Service
offials, but most of them are small and usually do not happen near the populated
areas.
They are caused by the freezing and thawing of water in the cracks of the
granite that makes up the walls and cliffs of Yosemite, a process called ``exfoliation.''
Most of the rockslides occur during the spring and fall, when the change between
winter and warmer weather helps loosen the rock on the valley's spectacular
cliffs.
Since the first week of November, the temperatures in Yosemite Valley have
hovered around freezing toward the end of the day.
The rockslide, which sent up a big cloud of dust, was followed by evening
snow flurries.
The Curry Village accommodations were reopened yesterday once the park service
determined the rockslides were unlikely to recur.
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