Olmstead Point

I took a trip up to Olmstead Point this past weekend. Still tons of snow up there, although with the weather the way it is it is melting fast. Every night the clouds moved in a destroyed any hope for sunset, and likewise the sunrises weren't much to boast about either. It was awesome though, camped above Olstead Point, watching the clouds move across the landscape all day and listening the crackling of avalanches in Tenaya Canyon.

Saturday morning camped at the top of the Snow Creek trail I heard a thunderous crack and rumble across the valley. Groggy, I just thought it was another snow avalanche amongst the dozens I heard earlier in the evening. Turns out, a large rock slide fell off Half Dome. It closed the southern part of the Mirror Lake loop trail, and in places the northern part of the trail was covered in an inch of granite dust, which would kick up into a cloud at the slightest breeze. Can't (and don't want to) imagine if this slide occurred during the day.

Here's a view from the ridge above Olmstead Point, looking east (Tenaya Lake can be seen in the distance).

Slide below of Half Dome

Greg,

Very nice image from Yosemite's high country. So you hiked from the valley up Tenaya canyon to Olmsted point? Wow, that sounds like an adventure - and pretty strenuous too.

Thanks for the info on the Rock Slide. I guess that puts the kabash on any thoughts to walking the south side trail to Mirror lake any time soon... :-(

Here's a link to the Yosemite Daily report. I occasionally read through it and sometimes find some interesting information about the goings-on in Yosemite. Here's part of the report about the rock slide which happend on Saturday morning:

New Today
Ahwiyah Point rock fall - A very large rock fall occurred from Ahwiyah Point near Half Dome at 5:26 am on the
morning of March 28. The rock fall originated near the summit of Ahwiyah Point and fell roughly 1800 feet to the floor of
Tenaya Canyon, striking ledges along the way. Debris extended well out into Tenaya Canyon, knocking down hundreds
of trees and burying the southern portion of the Mirror Lake loop trail. Reminiscent of the 1996 Happy Isles rock fall,
there appears to have been a small airblast associated with impact on the valley floor. Fortunately, due to the event
occurring in the early morning, there were no injuries. The impact generated ground shaking that was recorded by
numerous seismometers across California, registering as the equivalent of a local magnitude 2.5 earthquake. The volume
of the Ahwiyah Point rock fall is still being determined, but it was clearly one of the largest rock falls in the past decade;
for perspective this rock fall was many times the size of the recent October 2008 rock falls behind Curry Village.
Numerous smaller rock falls have occurred from Ahwiyah Point since the initial failure, and the southern portion of the
Mirror Lake loop trail remains closed until further notice. (G. Stock - 3/30/09)

Check out the second article about the car fire at Tunnel view.

Greg, sorry to hijack your thread, but thanks for the info on the rock slide, I had not heard about it.

Lon

So you hiked from the valley up Tenaya canyon to Olmsted point? Wow, that sounds like an adventure - and pretty strenuous too.

Only if I had a death wish I hiked the safer way up Snow Creek to 120, then along 120 to Olstead. Still adventurous and strenuous without the excessive avalanche danger

No worry 'bout hijacking. I almost posted the avalanche as a second thread given the difference in topics. I really appreciate you posting the Daily report, I wasn't sure how to get info on the slide and it hasn't been in the news. Thanks Lon

great report and image Greg! Must've been an awesome, spine tingling sound to bear witness to! It's easy to get lured into thinking the landscape in the sierra is unchanging, but reality, especially in winter/spring thaw, it's quite dynamic.

Greg, cool shot!

did you hike or ski/snowshoe? how long was the trip?

Cory, yes it was pretty wild.
Thanks Enrique, this trip was with snowshoes (I've done a similar route with skis andwanted to try to snowshoe it). It was a 3 day trip - first night at the top of Snow Creek, and next night at Olstead. The snow kind of stunk, seemed to be in transition between spring and winter, so at times I was sinking in several inches, and other times stepping on solid ice - made it even more exhausting.

WOW, that slide is horrific. I really like the Olmstead view here, Greg.

Lon: you cannot "hike" up Tenaya Canyon, as technical climbing and SWIMMING is required!. I have not ascended the canyon, but I have descended it. You can read my trip report here: http://rockclimbing.org/tripreports/Tenaya_Canyon.pdf

Sounds like a great trip, Greg!

Thanks Paul and Michael.
Michael, thanks for sharing that trip report. I bet the inner areas of the Canyon are as desolate as anything, esp. anything that close to the valley. It's definitely something that I'd love to do sometime, just not this time of year (you should have heard the number of avalanches crashing on the walls of the canyon).

For what its worth, I posted a more thorough trip report over at HighSierraTopix.com

Greg,

Great story. A couple of years ago I was standing on that very ridge in Autumn and photographed the nearly exact scene you can see it Here. Amazing if you ask me.

Youssef, I remember that tree. It and its neighbors made for some not so fun post-holing. I had really wanted to hike up in the evening for sunset with a similar comp as yours, but the weather did not cooperate.