Wildfire Smoke Forces Yosemite Wall Climbers to Bail

The wildfires in western U.S.A. are blanketing the Pacific coast in thick smoke from California to northern B.C. and Alberta. It’s created unhealthy conditions for people to be outside, especially on big walls.

Nearby resident, Holly Webb, recently said, “My husband and I work in Yosemite, have a business in Yosemite and live in Oakhurst. We are physically ill right now from the smoke, even though we have spent 90 per cent of our time indoors since the fire started. We have a cough sore throat headache and general illness starting today. I would say you’d be crazy to be climbing outside. It’s toxic.”

Canadian Pete Zabrok was one of the last climbers on El Capitan despite the smoke, but recently said he was bailing: “We all are coming down due to sore eyes and lungs.”

Yosemite National Park updated followers with: “Smoke from the Creek Fire and other wildfires continue to affect air quality in Yosemite National Park. The air quality index for Yosemite today remains in the unhealthy to hazardous range. When air quality is hazardous, everyone should avoid all physical activity outdoors.”

Some Yosemite wildfire history: George Meléndez Wright, after noticing serious mismanagement of wildlife in Yosemite and other national parks, dedicated his career to creating a wildlife biology plan. In 1933, after years of hard work and funding the entire program himself, Wright was named division chief of the newly establish Wildlife Division of the National Park Service. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to head the National Resources Board. He spent the next two years travelling to and researching areas where new national parks could be established before his untimely death in 1936.

“We are at a critical time: The West is burning. People are dying. The smoke is literally starting to cover our country, and our way of life as we know it is in danger,” Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said Wednesday during testimony in support of an emergency wildfire bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, that would direct more resources to prevention.

There are tens of thousands of firefighters working to contain the blazes, including teams from Israel, Mexico and Canada. Sixty firefighters from Quebec have spent the last two weeks battling the fires and Alberta will be sending support this week.

There was recently a wildfire in the Ghost River Valley of Alberta that created heavy smoke near Calgary and the Bow Valley. There are 23 active fires in B.C., check out this map for locations.

Many areas in western Canada have been affected by smoke from south of the border, forcing people indoors. Below is a photo from the Okanagan Valley sunrise on Sept. 17.