The western shoulder section of Glacier Point apron is shown June14, 1999, in Yosemite, Calif. The rockslide, which is the light area above the sunlit large spot of the mountain, killed 22-year-old climber Peter Terbush
Posted on 08/21/2005 9:38:14 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — The rumble began high on the sheer cliff wall, like faraway thunder before a storm.
A slab of granite as big as a railroad boxcar had let loose 1,300 feet up Glacier Point's age-worn face. The million-pound rock cartwheeled and shattered, tracing a plume of dust downward toward Peter Terbush.
In his last earthbound moments, Terbush turned to a long-ago climbing lesson taught by his dad. As a little boy first astride a mountain, he learned to always protect a partner at the end of the rope. Never let go.
The broad-shouldered 21-year-old held fast to the nylon lifeline lashed to a friend 60 feet up. Another buddy on the ground scrambled for cover as the boulders hit Earth, exploding like bombs.
Fate let his two friends escape with lacerations. They found Terbush's body crumpled in a ball, his hands still gripping the rope.
Six years after the rock slide, his parents suspect that mankind's handprint atop Glacier Point — most notably a bathroom water system prone to overflow — lubricated the cliff face, provoking a flurry of rock falls, including the June 1999 tragedy that claimed Terbush.
His parents have poured their grief and suspicions and search for answers into a $10-million wrongful death lawsuit against the National Park Service. "My son understood the risks of climbing," said Jim Terbush, himself a climber. "But he didn't know the conditions on Glacier Point had been fundamentally changed."
The legal battle, set for a first hearing Tuesday, has sent reverberations around Yosemite and the climbing community beyond.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The western shoulder section of Glacier Point apron is shown June14, 1999, in Yosemite, Calif. The rockslide, which is the light area above the sunlit large spot of the mountain, killed 22-year-old climber Peter Terbush
let the parents jump off the cliff --- no loss to humanity nor to a sensible society.
Murphy's First Law of Motion: S**t rolls downhill.
Indians were there first, they inhabited this valley for thousands of years, they must have had to relieve themselves at some point as well, sue them too , what's fair is fair!
The Indians that lived there were known to carve in the granite to ground acorns, they cleared the trees with fires, they littered the ground with obsidian, not even natural to the park, why is it when ever there is wrongful use of the land claim is always blamed on the US citizens only?
Rainfall has no effect in the park.
Damn Lawyers...Damn Judges who should toss this case before it even gets started.
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