Yosemite wildfires

Anyone have updates on air quality in Tuolumne or Valley this week from the wildfires?

Also for folks that don't already know, 120 is closed near Groveland.

id be interested too. going across 108 tomorrow with plans to climb in Tuolunme. will post something when i get there.

Climbed in Tuolumne yesterday (Friday 8/23). Beautiful crisp, clear morning with perfect early Autumn temps. From the top of Dosier Dome we saw the smoke cloud creeping towards Matterhorn and Conness. By the time we got to the TM store for beers the Meadows were completely engulfed.

Cool view of the Rim Fire.

liveleak.com/view?i=e01_137…
liveleak.com/view?i=460_137…

Bump, any local updates?

This SuperTopo thread has been getting a lot of updates.

No smoke in the Valley this weekend (8/24-25) but when looking towards El Cap from the top of The Sentinel, the plume was visible in the distance.

Map and fire progression information from ESRI.

bit.ly/19XzCys

A friend climbed in the meadows yesterday said it was all clear.

A little hard to piece together all the available info, but in terms of road closures, the most efficient thing seems to be to go here
inciweb.org/incident/3660/
and then click on the most recent "Rimfire Update" under "Recent Articles" on the right side of the page.

Was anyone up in the Meadows this weekend? How was the smoke?

The wind changed last night and filled the valley full of smoke. We're in route for the valley right now. Smoke be damned.

Was in Tuolumne two days ago and the visibility was very limited. Smoke was definitely strong in the air.

Any word on South Lake Tahoe or Lovers?

Tahoe basin and Lovers Leap has varied between very smokey to light haze for last two weeks (heavier on Very Smokey). If winds are out of the West its been OK.

The Leap wasn't bad this morning, but the smoke started moving in around 11:00.

We climbed Clouds Rest on Sat (31 Aug). Tenaya Canyon wasn't visible from our route until the afternoon when there was a slight clearing of the smoke. Ash was falling from the sky during our climb. It was definitely surreal.

Ugh, all my plan B's are getting smoked out. Grrr....stupid forrest fire.

I have plans to climb in the Lake Tahoe area and Yosemite 9/24-10/2. I am currently having hard time deciding if I should continue with these plans.

My gut feeling is to go for it. If Yosemite Valley is off-limits and Tuolumne too smoky there is still Lover's Leap and other east-side Sierra locations. However, reports of poor air quality in the Reno area are disheartening and lead me to think it might be wiser to cancel.

Truckee has been mostly clear the last few days with smoke moving in later in the day.
Climbed at Donner Pass yesterday and things were very clear. Last week it (specifically 8-27) things were quite smoky and I was coughing in town. Seems day to day up here

Just got back from a trip to Tuolumne. I went through Sonora Pass but I met up with some folks who took 50 and others who came through Donner. The consensus is that Donner has been able to dodge most of the smoke relative to South Lake and Yosemite. South Lake has been smoky when Tuolumne is clear (when the winds are out of the Southwest). But as soon as the winds shift more westerly (west-southwest or just west), Tuolumne gets inundated and South Lake has less smoke. Carson City and Reno seems to get smoke in either case and the east side of Tahoe is worse than the west side.

So, I would say check the forecast. If its calling for south or southwest winds, Tuolumne or the Valley is the call. As soon as it turns predominately west, then Tahoe is better. Of-course, that doesn't help with long-term plans, but the point is that there will be at least something that is relatively smoke free especially as the fire gets more contained (100% containment is projected to occur in 3 weeks but that doesn't mean the fire is completely out).

When the smoke did roll into Tuolumne, the views sucked but we could climb ANYTHING with no crowds!!