National Park Service officials at Yosemite National Park finally came to grips with the serious danger of rockslides at the 600-cabin Curry Village. Since 1996, two people have been killed, and almost two dozen injured by rockfalls in the Curry Village area of the park. As recently as this past October, three people were injured as a hail storm of rocks and pickup truck sized boulders smashed into the Village.
Yosemite National Park administrators have announced they will permanently close 233 cabins at Curry Village, which until last month had 600 units.
If you have a reservation to stay in Curry Village, which had been undergoing extensive repair and renovations since Labor Day, contact Yosemite reservations immediately, as your reservation may be in jeopardy, or already canceled. Regardless, you might want to consider making a reservation somewhere else.
The Park Service has known about the severe danger posed by the 3,000 foot granite cliff hanging over Curry Village for years. They’ve witnessed the results of the huge rockslides like the one last month which rained down boulders that pulverized cabins and sent schoolchildren scurrying for their lives.
Even with the injuries and deaths since 1996, the agency rebuilt and repaired the lodgings rather than closing Curry Village, barring visitors from the area, or even posting warnings.
Noting the lack of public notice about the rockslide danger, Deanna Maschmeyer of Monterey, Calif., who was staying at Curry Village with her children, and had to flee their cabin during the huge October rockslide said:
To me, that’s irresponsible. Now that I’ve lived through it, I can’t believe it’s safe. I will not stay there again.
Yosemite officials point out that visitors must assume some risk when they visit the nation’s parks and that the parks are not legally required to post hazard warnings in wild areas. Scott Gediman, the park’s public-affairs officer said, “By us not putting signs right there, we’re not trying to hide the fact that there has been rockfall in the area.”
In 1999, Peter Terbush, a geology student, was killed in a 660 ton rock slide while standing at the cliff’s base at Curry Village. Mr. Terbush’s family has filed a wrongful-death suit against the Park. The family’s attorney, Dugan Barr, points out, “There’s nothing wild about Curry Village. It’s a motel.”
Having to close Curry Village units puts Yosemite in a real bind for inside-the-park accommodations. Curry Village’s 600 plus cabins accounted for about two-thirds of the total lodging available in Yosemite. In 1997 flooding had eliminated 200 rooms, and with the Curry Village loss they’ve lost at least 233 more. I believe the publicity of these rockslides may force Yosemite officials to close Curry Village entirely, before long.
It will be some time before the National Park Service can build new accommodations in the Park. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a wide slate of construction projects designed to upgrade visitor services in Yosemite, citing the potential for environmental degradation of the Merced River that runs through it. The court ruled that Yosemite officials must redo their master plan which is unlikely to be completed before 2012, according to the agency.
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
