UKC

NEWS: A new Yosemite emerges from the depths

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 Michael Ryan 22 Nov 2006
John Muir called it "a wonderfully exact counterpart" of Yosemite Valley, and therefore "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." Like its neighbour Yosemite Valley, Hetch Hetchy was also scuplted by glaciers 10,000 years ago but in 1923 the O'Shaughnessy Dam was constructed and this valley flooded...............

Read more http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/
palomides 22 Nov 2006
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Y'know, looking at the before and after shots on this page
http://www.hetchhetchy.org/history.html (put your pointer over the image) it doesn't look like the water is really that deep.

I guess this corresponds to the low proportion of the state's water the valley supplies, and suggests that it isn't unfeasible to restore the original landscape.

But it also means that the cliffs in the photos don't extend downward. The are no hidden El Caps there - unless someone knows different?
 Doug 22 Nov 2006
In reply to palomides: Aren't there already some routes there ? vague memories of an article by Galen Rowell
palomides 22 Nov 2006
 nz Cragrat 22 Nov 2006
In reply to Doug:

I read an article recently about climbing there - there are a small bunch of bods who hae been beavering away for years....

ah here it is

http://climbing.com/print/features/hhetchy251/
palomides 22 Nov 2006
In reply to nz Cragrat:
> (In reply to Doug)
>
> I read an article recently about climbing there - there are a small bunch of bods who hae been beavering away for years....
>
> ah here it is
>
> http://climbing.com/print/features/hhetchy251/

Interesting. Rather florid prose, but some thought-provoking stuff on page 3 about which valley has been preserved.
Anonymous 22 Nov 2006
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Good news.

Next up Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell - a disgrace which has flooded some of the most unique and beautiful places on the planet.
WillinLA 22 Nov 2006
In reply to Anonymous:
> (In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com)
>
> Good news.
>
> Next up Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell - a disgrace which has flooded some of the most unique and beautiful places on the planet.

Forget it, unless Vegas is wiped off the map and LA becomes a lot smaller (which I would imagine a certain number of Abbey fans have been working on for a few years).

Anyway, even if it was feasible from a utilities standpoint, it would be unutterably pointless. The nature of the Colorado River is such that the topographical feature that WAS Glen Canyon is now mostly buried under silt. Sadly, and unlike Hetch Hetchy, it's gone forever.

Although it would be nice if the Colorado river was allowed to make it to the Pacific Ocean again.
 Chris Fryer 23 Nov 2006
In reply to nz Cragrat: Will just need to add an extra pitch or two to the bottom of the routes now, up to the watermark.
 sandywilson 23 Nov 2006
In reply to nz Cragrat:
> (In reply to Doug)
>
> I read an article recently about climbing there - there are a small bunch of bods who hae been beavering away for years....
>
> ah here it is
>
> http://climbing.com/print/features/hhetchy251/

Eh, what's a spraylord?

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