I hate to be the one that brings the bad news. Sometimes events happen that are so crazy you can't even comprehend them for hours, days, or years. This one almost left me paralyzed, in shock, and questioning this world. This is such a powerful world we live in. This fact had been smashed into my brain with countless images of terror coming from the earthquake and Tsunami battered island of Japan over the last week. Images of missiles being fired onto the African continent and the worst of all, the possible death of NPR.
All this rain mixed with tragic events were starting to get me down. I was beginning to feel more than a little unstable mentally and I needed to have one of those days out in the nature on my own to calm my soul. I wanted to climb real rock soooo bad, but knew nothing would be dry. On Sunday and I was so tired of climbing plastique that I ventured down to Pinnacles to test my rain gear with the necessary long hike.
When I arrived at Pinnacles it wasn't actually raining and there were incredible streaks of light piercing the clouds and illuminating the High Peaks. It was more beautiful then I can remember it ever being. I put the shoes and chalk bag in my pack because it looked drier then I expected. I started hiking on the West Side and made my way up the muddy high peaks trail. I slowly journeyed down to the reservoir, taking tons of photos, via a shortcut that drops you out right by the Tiburcios X. Immediately something seemed totally wrong at the reservoir. There was no water in it, at all! I looked to my left and saw Vasquez's once proud Monolith leaning against the rim. I was completely in awe, scared, and depressed at the same time. I knew I would never climb Ranger Bolts now! Holy Damn!
I immediately spotted a quite cute and young female ranger at the scene, I'd seen her working theat the entrance booth, who described the chain of events that led to this tragedy. With all the rain of the last few days, Bear Gulch Reservoir had a catastrophic failure. But it wasn't just the rain that caused the failure. A few days ago a small earthquake had occurred on the small fault that runs up bear gulch and right through the reservoir. This quake had compromised the integrity of the aging reservoir. Rangers had noticed the cracks and had been monitoring the situation for a few days. She described the last few moments of the dam, she heard an ominous sound of shifting rock. Water instantly began shooting out through a large crack just to the right of where water used to spill over the structure. The crack quickly expanded as aging mud and crud quickly gave way to the pressure of the water held behind. She started to cry as she explained the raw power that dismantled the wall of boulders within moments. A 30 foot Tsunami of water hit the Monolith within a few seconds.
The shear force of the wave instantly tilted the Monolith at least 30 degrees until it came to rest against the rim of Bear Gulch. She said that all the boulders that hold up the monolith were washed away, leading to the toppling of The Monolith. As the wall of water continued down Bear Gulch, removing bolts at will, it rushed up the side of the Gulch onto Discovery Wall. All the knobs of Portent, Verdict, and Wet Kiss were instant severed from the rock due to the wall of water, trees and boulder debris from under the monolith. Only glue ins and lead placed bolts remain on the wall. The right side of Discovery was spared: Mammary Pump, Cosmos, and 40 Days of Rain are the only climbs in Bear Gulch not effected.
A positive side effect of the flood was the scrubbing of The Heffalump of all lichen and moss. Two climbs there are now certified classics, Denied and Chunky Monkey. Next up was the Tourist Trap which has been covered with up to 45 feet of mud and debris. The crux of Rat Race is now a mere boulder problem and the top rope to the left it also a classic pebble pincher.
Then the road, visitor center, housing, electric car, and over priced campground were erased. Pinnacles is no longer accessible by car or truck from the eastside. Brad's guidebook needs a major revision (sorry about all those boxes in your garage Brad). But as a positive all Raptor Closures will be lifted due to all nesting sites and their birds, being destroyed by the initial 1.5 hours of softball size hail.
I was able to make my way onto the top of the monolith and I was able to get some pretty good views of many of the classics. I was able to come up with these predictions of the new ratings of once proud climbs: Foreplay 5.9, POD 5.6, Feed The Beast 5.2, Hot Lava Lucy 4th Class, Ubermensh 5.11d, Lardbutt 5.13c, Cataract Corner 5.13a, Ranger Bolts 5.15b, Ape Index 5.13d. Bridwell Bolts 5.12a.
Things are different now... The place we developed ways and reasons to love is no longer. I will be starting a Pinnacalites Anonymous group to help us through the next few months until the glaciers recede and granite is once again accessible.
