Intro
to Yosemite
Yosemite
Valley is a climbing hotspot located in California. It is such a famous area
for climbing because of its huge granite walls the most famous of which is El
Capitan which towers 3,593 feet above the valley floor. El Capitan is so famous
due to its glass smooth appearance and high climbing difficulty.
The
Geology
Yosemite
Valley is a glaciated U-shaped valley which was eroded during the last ice age,
thousands of years ago. The rock in Yosemite is nearly all granite, a plutonic
igneous rock, (this means that the rock is formed from magma that cools and solidifies
under the Earth’s surface very slowly, and this allows large crystals to form).
The
reasons that granite is so suited for climbing are that; it is a fairly course-grained
rock which makes it quite grippy for the average hard-fingered climber, it is very
hard and resists erosion which causes it to form large cliffs like the ones
found in Yosemite, it breaks into large blocks by jointing creating large
cracks, which is why some of the best crack climbs in the world can be found on
granite cliffs.
The
Climbing
As
well as the huge multi-pitch (more than one rope-length) climbs, there are much
smaller climbs which do not require a rope, just a crash mat, that in the past
were used by climbers to train for the big walls. However, nowadays they are
considered to be another branch of climbing called bouldering. Bouldering is considered
a more sociable, and strength testing way of climbing rather than endurance,
and we will be looking into it in a little more detail next week when we talk
about climbing a bit closer to home, Glendalough.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_View
