Yosemite to close more than one-third of Curry Village cabins
Officials took the step after determining that the Glacier Point rockfall zone is too close to the popular spot at the national park.
Reporting from Sacramento — Conceding to the force of Mother Nature, officials at Yosemite National Park announced today that they are yanking more than a third of the cabins and other accommodations at venerable Curry Village because of the threat of rockfalls at Glacier Point.
The decision follows weeks of intensive geological study of the 3,000-foot cliff face in the aftermath of an Oct. 8 rockfall that injured three visitors and battered numerous cabins sitting in the shadow of the massive granite wall.
Park administrators said they will permanently close 233 accommodations at Curry Village, which until last month had 600 tent and solid-wall cabins.
Scott Gediman, a park spokesman, said officials took the step after geologists determined that the rockfall zone below Glacier Point had spread too close for comfort to Curry Village.
"We basically drew a new line," Gediman said. "Anything behind the line, we're closing."
For years, a number of independent geologists and park denizens have considered Glacier Point the most active and dangerous cliff face in the seven-mile-long valley. They have pushed for the park to take steps to limit the risks to Curry Village.
In the last 12 years, rocks slides at Glacier Point have killed two men and injured about two dozen. Meanwhile, the impact zone for falling rock has gradually spread closer and closer to the family-friendly cabins and other accommodations at century-old Curry Village.
Last month's rockfall was particularly sobering. It occurred just minutes after scores of schoolchildren had left the impact zone for breakfast. There were only a few minor injuries. It could have been much worse.
The family of a young climber killed in a 1999 rockfall continues to wage a legal battle against the park, citing studies by a university geologist who contends the park service likely triggered more slides because of construction activity and faulty bathroom drainage at the scenic lookout atop Glacier Point. Park geologists have rejected those assessments.
The closures announced today -- of the 107 tent cabins and 126 solid-wall cabins that are closest to the cliff face -- slice deeply into the list of available accommodations in Yosemite Valley.
In the last 12 years, the total number of hotel rooms, cabins and campsites in the valley has decreased by 36%, from 2,353 in 1996 to 1,503 today -- because of floods, rockfalls and planning decisions.
