Yosemite National Park: Curry Village cabins to close for good

Some of Yosemite National Park’s popular Curry Village accommodations will close for good due to an unstable cliff, announced National Park Service officials earlier this month.

Yosemite, with more than 3 million visitors annually, is no stranger to sketchy cliffs: 14 people have died in more than 530 rockfalls that have occurred in tourist-heavy Yosemite Valley since 1857. The most recent reminder of this unpredictable force of nature occurred on Oct. 8, 2008, when a rock slide at Curry Village injured three people and destroyed several cabins. The slide, which rained “the equivalent of 570 dump trucks of rock,” onto the valley, originated from the overlooking Glacier Point cliff face.

Of the 618 cabins at Curry Village, about half have been unavailable to guests since last month’s incident. This announcement marks the permanent closure of 233 cabins total. According to the AP article, more rockfalls have occurred at Curry Village in the last 10 years than in any other part of Yosemite Valley.