10/13 Yosemite Ahwahnee Hotel & EL Capitan

Today, I took the shuttle and headed off to see the Ahwahnee Hotel.  Except, it is no longer called the Ahwahnee, as a result of a contract dispute with the new hotel management company and the park service.  Somehow, the previous company managed to trademark the names Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village, and then tried to sell the names to the U.S. Park Service for $60 million, in spite of these both being historical names.  It even tried to trademark the name "Yosemite National Park" but was refused!!!  Anyway, the park service has petitioned the U.S. Patent Office for improperly granting the name trademarks.  

This article explains the situation: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/How-Yosemite-lost-its-historic-names-and-may-6883006.php

Anyway, it is upsetting that a company was allowed to trademark a name that should belong to the National Park Service and the American public.  Here is an update on the dispute from March, 2017:  http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article170192292.html

Anyway, I hopped on the shuttle and got off a few stops later at the hotel.  This is the grand entrance.

I stopped at the old registration desk and asked how far in advance you had to make reservations.  The answer was "one year and one day" and the lady added that they were always full.  Rooms start at $600 per night. 

The grassy area in the back of the hotel is really prettier than the front.  I walked back there and noticed a dot of color on the rock, just to the right of the tree in the middle and about 2/3 of the way up the tree.

My terrific 30x telephoto lens showed the climbers pretty clearly. 


Back inside taking some photos of the public rooms.

I thought even this staircase was impressive.

There  has been a lot of construction going in in Yosemite this summer, and it has disrupted the shuttle routes occasionally.  The shuttle normally has two routes--a short one that loops around just the village area and a longer one that goes farther down to the area near El Capitan.  I was planning on taking the shorter shuttle route, but that was closed for the day, so ended up getting off at El Capitan to take some photos.  It certainly is impressive.

Pretty view of the river with a reflection of El Capitan. 

If you remember reading about the big rockfall a month ago, you can see it clearly in the photo below. 

The chunk that fell was the size of a large apartment building and one person and severely injured another.  And neither were even climbers.  The British man who was klled and his injured wife were just walking below the slide area. 

Took a photo of these climbers.  It is said to take 3-5 days to climb to the top, which must be difficult considering how cold the nights have been lately.