Tree Fall At Cathedral Ledge Today

I was climbing on Toe Crack when I saw to my left a giant tree coming down in an area past the prow (Upper Refuse area/Barber wall?). The tree came down from a little more than halfway up the wall and made one hell of a racket.

We ran into some other people who seemed to say that no one was hurt, but there were slings on the tree as if it were a belay tree of some sort.

First of all: was anyone hurt?

Second of all: Is anyone sure which tree this was and what effect it had on the climbing in that area of the cliff and the belays?

Currently the tree (I am told) has taken up residence near recompense

pics or it didn't happen. actually though, was it this:

I would be careful of loose rock and any instability caused by the fall. Take some pictures of the second belay, might be good to post info on this in the Upper Refuse page if you get the pics of what it looks like now

I watched it go over from the top of Toe Crack. It took a lot of dirt with it when it went so watch out for loose rock.

I can't believe it just went on its on. Anyone know what condition it was in before it went?

Brian, thanks for clearing that up.

Pic from the tree at the bottom:

scontent.fbos1-1.fna.fbcdn.…

Was the tree still alive? Just curious if it met the 5, 5, and alive rule.

5 feet tall? Yes.
5 inches thick? Yes.

Alive?

Oh its was alive and met all those requirements. Rapped off that tree a 100 times and never gave a thought about it. The thing is huge!

That area of the ledge area is so freaking slanted.... Any tree there is going to eventually fail/fall. Tough spot to thrive.

Thanks for posting Christopher. I visited the site today and got some pictures. There are quite a few death blocks hanging in there as a result of this and I am putting together a quick post. Can you give me the best ETA of when you watched it fall? I'm also looking at nearby weather station data as I think this may have coincided with a strong wind event. Was it breezy when you were over on Toe Crack?

My guess is that we were on Rap on Toe Crack (when the tree fell... Kind of spooky when you are about to trust a tree with your life) around 12:45 to 1:15 PM. I don't remember any particularly breezy moments, but when the tree fell we were in the alcove at the top of Toe Crack.

Thanks for putting together a report! It will be good for people to know what has been effected by this.

So my report with some photos from today:

nealpinestart.com/2016/06/2…

NEAlpineStart wrote:So my report with some photos from today: nealpinestart.com/2016/06/2…

Great article. Nice investigation, and very helpful for the community.