Wallface (Diagonal) Rockfall?

There was absolutely massive destruction around the base of Diagonal this weekend. Looks like some really big rocks (small car size) came down and flattened trees near the base of the climb. Anyone know when this happened? Was it during Irene?

No idea, but I'd love to see pictures!

Climbed the Diagonal yesterday. I heard a huge crash while belaying on P6. Didn't see anything. When we rapped down, a huge boulder field lay next to our stuff. I figured it was damage from Irene. I didn't really think much of it. Scary thought thought though. Good thing we weren't near it.

I was climbing with Joe and also heard that same crash yesterday, although I'm not sure if that crash was the one responsible for the damage. in any case, I remember hearing it come from climbers left, making it possible that it came from the lower pitches of the diagonal ramp. for one reason or another, I don't think it phased me too much at the time. to the best of my knowledge, there were two other parties on the route at that time (sometime around 3 30). I'd be curious to hear their thoughts as one party was about to rap off from the 7th pitch and the other was about to rap off from the 4th pitch, so they'd have slightly different perspectives. Auto-X Fil, were you in the party above us from PA that was practically sprinting up the route? :)

Yes, we were the party ahead of you and Joe. "Sprinting" is an exaggeration, I think... 35 minutes is the record for that route, and we missed it by many hours.

The rockfall was all there when we arrived, so it wasn't while anyone was on the route on Saturday.

I didn't take photos, but there was a large rotten birch knocked down, a live birch about 14" in diameter uprooted and knocked over, and a bunch of smaller trees down. All had fresh-looking patches of missing bark where rocks hit them, as did some standing trees nearby. The exposed wood was still nice and white, although not damp with sap.

There are 2-3 large (car-size) boulders just below the route. One of them has a big pointy end sticking about 6' up the air, which is covered in loose dirt. My assumption is that at least this boulder fell recently, as a moderate rain would have cleaned off the dirt. But, I think it's been a couple weeks since the Daks got a good rain, right?

Anyone have a photo of the base taken before? The book describes a large, flat boulder, so I assume at least one of them was there already. Right now none of them are close to being flat, though.