Modern History
Yosemite Valley is listed as a National Historic District and as a California Historical Landmark.
Curry Village was the site from where villagers and visitors watched the famous Yosemite Firefall. These "falls" were large batches of red hot embers dropped from Glacier Point. The Park Service stopped this practice in 1969 as part of their long process of de-emphasizing artificial park attractions.
On July 6, 1996 a massive rock slide, weighing an estimated 60–80,000 tons, crashed 1800 feet (550 m) into the valley from the east side of Glacier Point, travelling at over 160 mph (260 km/h). Dust blanketed that part of the valley for days, and the wind speed in front of the slide is estimated to have been 300 mph (480 km/h). One person was killed in the slide.
Yosemite is now a world rock climbing attraction. The massive 'big walls' of granite have been climbed countless times since the 1950s and have pushed climbers' abilities to new heights. While climbers traditionally take several days to climb the monoliths, bivvying on the rock faces, modern climbing techniques help climbers ascend the cliffs in mere hours. Many climbers stay at Camp 4 before beginning big wall climbs.
Half Dome figures prominently on the reverse side of the California state quarter.
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—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)
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—Josiah Royce (1855–1916)