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Geologist: Yosemite rock falls don’t mean more danger

Geologist: Yosemite rock falls don't mean more danger | iNFOnews.ca
Visitors watch the rock fall from El Capitan Meadow Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Yosemite National Park says another rock fall has injured one person in the park, one day after a huge chunk of granite killed a British tourist. An immense mass of granite plunged from the side of El Capitan on Thursday and filled the valley below with a cloud of dust. (Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee via AP) A

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. – Two days of huge falling rocks hurting and in one case killing people at Yosemite National Park doesn’t mean there is increased danger. That’s according to the park’s geologist Greg Stock.

He told The Associated Press on Friday that it’s impossible to predict when a hunk of rock like those that fell off El Capitan this week will break away, and that it happens about 80 times per year.

Elite mountain climber Alex Honnold compared the rock falls to a bolt of lightning for their randomness.

A huge chunk of rock fell from El Capitan and killed a British tourist and injured his wife on Wednesday.

An even bigger chunk fell off on Thursday and left one man injured.

They were the first rock falls to injure a person at the park since 2013.

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