Rock fall and area closure: Yosemite (serenity crack area)

Since it's FA, it has expanded over an inch in the past week.

FA = First Appearance?  

ryan climbs sometimes wrote:

What the original grade?

"Super Natural", 5.10-

Guys it’s a pretty sweet rope-length of crack

Went from hands to thin fingers when we climbed it  a week ago

Bb Cc wrote:

Is this just an expedient way to get new marble tables into the Ahwahnee dining room?

Marble is a product of limestone not granite, so I'm guessing not, lol. 

The NPS has issued a response that due to its expanding nature the suggested rack is a set of Link Cams and belay knife. 

See Blue Ribbon's comments on the main page.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105915124/closed-for-safety-super-slide 

It would appear people rapping off the new rap route, was the straw that broke the camel's back as they weighted the left side. : - )))

Shaniac wrote:

See Blue Ribbon's comments on the main page.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105915124/closed-for-safety-super-slide 

It would appear people rapping off the new rap route, was the straw that broke the camel's back as they weighted the left side. : - )))

Further data as the dangers of simul-rapping due to the doubling of the rappelling weight pulling the mountain down 

Even if it falls down the crack is still technically there 

M L wrote:

Even if it falls down the crack is still technically there 

I thought it meant we had a new Arete. If somebody has already FA’d the crack and half of the mountain falls off, can the person who climbs the remaining edge of the crack claim a FA? That rock has already been climbed, but it’s a different rock climb now. First half ascent? Sounds like an eliminate to me… 

Is this on the Demimonde slab???

Ryan Wood wrote:

Is this on the Demimonde slab???

No, that's to the right of Trial By Fire, this is left of Super Slide's upper pitches. 

It actually follows pitches 4 and 5 of super slide in one long pitch.  Start up p4 and traverse into the crack on your left, end with a short slab to the final super slide anchor

Are there any updates on this? Curious to hear what continued monitoring has gleaned.  The climbing closures NPS page has no info aside from the initial closure. 

Evan Schiewe wrote:

Are there any updates on this? Curious to hear what continued monitoring has gleaned.  The climbing closures NPS page has no info aside from the initial closure. 

This is a vague recollection from over a week ago, so would appreciate it if someone could give a more definitive answer, but chatted with one of the climbing rangers in Camp 4 and they mentioned that the park geologist thinks there's it might be possible to reopen it at the end of summer - after it's been through a full freeze-thaw cycle, about a year after it happened. With lots of caveats that it'll likely still be somewhat dangerous, but hopefully a bit more stable after a year.

I can give it a few jam-unjam cycles to make sure it's safe for everyone

Shelton Hatfield wrote:

"Super Natural", 5.10-

"Grand Opening" 5.10 R 

Brief 2nd hand update - Greg Stock, the park geologist, gave a talk during the 2024 Facelift.  The crack is apparently continuously expanding and they expect the area to remain indefinitely closed until some likely major rockfall occurs.