Sawt Falasteen - Climbers test limits at Yosemite, short-staffed by US shutdown

The shutdown, which began on October 1 due to a budget impasse in Congress, has sent personnel levels plummeting at the park -- which is home to the imposing 3,000-foot (915-meter) granite wall known as El Capitan.

"We're challenged," a park ranger told AFP, on condition of anonymity.

"A lot of rangers have been furloughed" and those still working have had to contend with "an increase in illegal activity," he said.

Yosemite typically draws four million visitors a year.

Personnel now absent from the national park include scientists, researchers, and the workers who run the entry gates, where ticket booths are now closed.

Even so, the park's campsites are at full capacity. The restrooms are open, as are restaurants and souvenir shops, which are privately run.

One couple even held their wedding at Glacier Point, a stunningly scenic spot.

But violations are proliferating, such as camping without permits and climbing on restricted routes.

Peter Zabrok, a 66-year-old Canadian who has climbed El Capitan dozens of times, said he recently spotted eight BASE jumpers hurl themselves off the mountain in a single morning.

BASE jumping -- an extremely dangerous sport in which participants leap from cliffs and manmade structures using a parachute -- is illegal in Yosemite, though it is not unprecedented.

Even in normal times, the national park's dizzying heights and picturesque remote valleys are irresistible to enthusiasts, who make clandestine jumps at dawn or dusk.

But rarely have so many taken the risk, and in broad daylight to boot.

"Never have I seen so many," said Zabrok.

Videos of daring skydivers have gone viral on social media.

Three people were convicted and fined for illegal BASE jumping in Yosemite earlier this summer, before the shutdown began.

- 'Really scary' -

Alex Honnold, the record-breaking American climber whose feats were the subject of Oscar-winning 2018 documentary "Free Solo," told AFP "there are always people trying to skirt rules in Yosemite."

"Government shutdown or no government shutdown... there's just always some degree of illegal activity in the park, but I think it's pretty minor," he said.

For mountaineers like Honnold, the bigger threat posed by the shutdown is the potential damage to long-term conservation efforts, and emergency rescue programs.

"Deferred maintenance and cuts to law enforcement and all those kinds of things... no one's taking care of the infrastructure," he warned.

In particular, Honnold -- who famously climbed El Capitan with no ropes -- pointed to "cuts to search and rescue," which could mean that climbers involved in accidents are left stranded.

Fellow climber Julia Lackey, who has worked in Yosemite for the past two seasons, agreed the situation is "really scary."

"You see a lot of resources being spread thin, and at this time, they're just spread that much thinner," she said.

- 'Challenging'-

For some visitors, the absence of staff collecting entrance fees was a great motivation to visit Yosemite.

But for others, it seems incomprehensible that the personnel who have been furloughed to save money are the staff who would otherwise be collecting funds to maintain the park.

The park is essentially "providing all of the services without collecting fees, so they're losing money, which seems bad," said 29-year-old mountaineer Jack Taylor.

"Morale is down as far as park service employees, which I think you can sense a little bit in the park," said fellow climber Robbie Brown.

"I'm sure it's very challenging... not knowing what's going to happen next."

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST