Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Landslide / Rockfall off of Mt. Irvine 7-22-14 AM

Here are some photos of the landslide / rockfall / avalanche off of Mount Irvine on the morning of 7/22/14 at just after 6am.

Talking to Doug Sr later that day back down at the store, I heard there were reports that this avalanche made it all the way down to Mirror Lake and some hikers on the main trail had to take cover.











I made them into an animated GIF:

http://makeagif.com/i/vmDPYt

The last frame is several seconds after the first set. I didn't have my camera set to ideal settings for such a thing. It was just a quick reaction.

These photos were taken from about 300 feet above Trail Camp on the sort of shelf that sticks out around the base of Wotan's Throne. Camera is pointed east. A lot of the slope there in the frame goes down towards Trailside Meadow, Mirror Lake, etc. There are some huge rocks flying down the steep slope off of Irvine. I didn't hear of anyone getting hurt and I'm certainly glad about that.

About 10:40am in the vicinity of Mirror Lake, we also heard what sounded like a thunder: a deep rumble sound that was far off. No idea what caused that sound but we presumed another landslide somewhere.

Anyone else on the main trail 7/22 have some insight or experiences to share?

-K

June 27, hiking Meysan Lake Trail to Mallory/Irvine (the other side of where this occurred), our group of 3 decided it was too dangerous to climb the cirque on the north side of LeConte (were looking for Class 2 route, but everything looked 3-4. Good thing, as one of us also heard what was thought to be gunfire. Looking up the slope, there were two avalanches about 15 minutes apart, right where we had contemplated climbing. Don't think we could dodge volkswagon-sized boulders coming down. We attributed it to snow/waterfall still coming down in the area.
Still looking to come back and finish the hike. Maybe this fall.

Kurt,

Draw a straight line from the summit of Mt Irvine to the center of Mirror Lake. Note where it intersects the Main Trail. I was not aware of the rockfall on Irvine until you noted it. However. shortly thereafter at this location on the Main Trail I noted what appeared to be a pool of dried blood. At first, I wondered if it was related to the search for John Lively (which seemed unlikely). Now, I hope no one was hit by the rockfall you witnessed.

Jim

I was on the main trail that day on my way up between Mirror Lake and the Meadows when it happened. I was maybe 30 seconds away from having a really good view of the show, but I was on a steep incline and only saw the dust flying off the mountain (and a lot of noise), but the 5-6 folks ahead of me all watched the whole thing with a clear view. A few minutes later, We all passed some folks who had to duck for cover to be safe as they were on their way down (they ducked behind a large rock with a few other people, but nothing made it all the way to them - no way to know for sure when the boulders will stop of course).

No reports of injuries anywhere - if someone went off trail and was in danger, nobody saw them. Just some accelerated heart rates.