Geological time includes now...

Prompted by some pics if people standing atop Ancient Art, and thinking, "why is that still there????

Any geologic events to share from your crags? Things you climb that you maybe wonder about eveeerry time you get on them? Anyplace I climb, there's rock on the ground. Hmmmmm...... when's the next wall gonna go??

Here's one that happened very shortly after my climbing career began. And, as it happens, pretty much where I made my first rappel, off the rim, and free hanging! 

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/107258918/green-acres

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/108952708/geologic-time-includes-now

Pics and vids! It's stupid cold/snowy in many places right now.....outside climbing, is a long way away. 

Best, Helen

Well, literally any other weekend in the Rockies…

But there was a series of large rockfalls in Squamish in the past few year, the one linked being the most dramatic:

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6121735

Once there was a classic crack---Mickey's Beach Crack, on a giant boulder on the California coast north of San Francisco. I had made plans to meet an acquaintance there for an attempt, on my last possible climbing day on a visit to the region. My prospective partner never showed, so I eventually headed off, thinking,  "next visit". The following winter there was a big coastal storm.....it is now Mickey's Beach Arete---and much harder!!!!

I climbed on this rock a few months before a big storm came through last year and knocked it over

https://www.mountainproject.com/v/121380137

The Mickey’s beach area is constantly changing due to the harsh ocean conditions.

Red Rock has several heavy rain events over the summer which was pretty obvious when first heading out into the canyons this past fall. Especially heading into Juniper Canyon the first time. It was also very common to hear rock fall this fall too. 

Super Natural, the new crack that opened up in Yosemite late Aug. 2023, is a good example.

https://www.mountainproject.com/v/125293479

I know a guy who's climbed at least three routes before “alteration”: Jah Man, Cobra, and something in Yosemite I can’t recall. I did a short climb that started with a pedestal that a couple years later was a rubble heap. Big block fell off Goodro’s Wall in BCC last year I think. I took my young son on a hike past Wall Arch that’s no longer with us. Yeah, “geologic time includes now” - Gerry Roach. 

"Fear of the Inevitable" was a fittingly named route that is no longer with us. I remember seeing a pic of it in my guidebook where someone was hanging like a sloth under the gargantuan blocks that (accurately) looked as if they were barely attached.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/120128416/fear-of-the-inevitable?method=dropdown&query=fear%20of%20the%20ine&search=1&type=route

This one was on my to-do list before a decent chunk of the first pitch popped off:

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105802279/thin-air

https://cdn2.apstatic.com/photos/climb/111854728_large_1494308004.jpg

One whole side of Prototype wall @ Reimer's came down

Some day soon, the encroaching erosion below Endless Bummer Rock will finally reach the base and the whole thing will tumble into the ocean, taking with it two of the coolest sport climbs in the country. 

There was that huge one in the Bugaboos recently. 

A significant chunk of the Grand Teton (East Ridge route) fell a year ago.  The route goes directly under the Second Tower to the snowfield adjacent.  It's a wild place even without thinking about being crushed (e.g. falling down the north face).

 Grand Teton Second Tower collapse

This is a big chunk of a popular trad route, Thin Air, that came off at Smith about 1.5 yrs ago. 

You can scroll the photos to get a better idea of the size, and in the comments someone climbed it the day before it fell off.  

One of my favorite examples from the south side of Hallett Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. The north side is covered with amazing routes.

The Gendarme was a 25 foot Pinnacle on the ridgeline of Seneca Rocks.  Thousands (or more) years of exposure.  Climbed most days i would guess.  I balanced nervously on top in 87, it was gone 4 months later.  A close geologic call.

I watched a large part of El Cap fall off of El Cap from the summit of Higher Cathedral Spire.

@Latro A couple of my friends climbed the Gendarme two or three weeks before it fell. Freaked them out when they heard..

This fall happened at Black Rock Mountain, NC, a little known area, some time around 2016. I never climbed that particular part. Sure took out some trees.

Here in the SE, specifically the metamorphic areas, we have pretty stable conditions on very "old" mountains.  But, a very large rock fall occurred on the left side of Big Green a couple years back that was pretty impressive.  

My partner and I attempted Baron Spire (Old Smoothie) in the Sawtooths in Idaho 6 days before the summit spire fell down. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106072783/baron-spire-aka-old-smoothie

In New Hampshire, Cathedral Ledge saw the first pitch of a classic climb drastically altered by rockfall ~2 years ago: https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105935674/retaliation

Also Cannon Cliff... when I was in grade school the "Old Man" (rock feature that vaguely looked like a man's face from the right angle) fell off the cliff, and we essentially had a day of morning at school. As a kid I had no idea what it was or why anyone cared. The top of the cliff has evidence of the steel cables, water diversion channels, etc. that had been installed to try to stop erosion from running its course. Every few years a routes there gets "altered" by rockfall of some sort. Funny enough, the cliff is listed as the #1 example for "Exfoliating Granite" on Wikipedia. While that might not sell the cliff, the climbing actually is really fun! 5+ pitch routes are a bit of a rarity in NH, but Cannon has them in large supply. Lots of amazing crack and face climbing, some well protected, and some very bold.