I think I already asked it...

-- Randy Weiss (rew92@yahoo.com), June 18, 1999

Answers

I think you are referring to the Glacier Point rockfalls over the last two years. It has left a lot of loose rubble on many of the routes to the right of Monday Morning Slab, and the local rock professionals (in the Mountain Shop) advise against climbing there. I tend to agree, although this last June I climbed over several days on the left side of the Apron, on the Grack, and there was no problem. I feel that climbs on that side of the Apron are as safe as anywhere else. Spontaneous rockfall is always an objective danger that climbers face, no matter when or where they climb, and like Mt. St. Helens, where there is one calamity, it means that there is an existing weakness, and there is likely to be another calamity there in the not-too-distant future. So ya takes your chances and roll the dice. Wear your helmet and be ready to move quickly if you see and/or hear anything from above!

-- david cole (dcole@hevanet.com), September 25, 2000.

An amigo of mine got the whack climbing on the Apron. He was belaying at the base and rock fall got him. This was the second or third major slide on this formation in recent years. Climb somewhere else! The whole fricking thing is going to rip sooner or later and take out all of Curry Village. Maybe after a slide kills 50 or more people the park service's geologists will fess up and say the area is bunk. I guess you can make the argument that rock fall is an objective danger present at all crags and climbing areas, but the Apron now has a history of sliding and parties should excerise caution and good mountaining sense when deciding whether to roll the dice at the Apron.

-- Brent (pinscar@hotmail.com), November 19, 2000.