The landslide competes with the 1997 Merced River flood and the 2013 Rim wildfire for the designation of the worst natural disaster in Yosemite to date.

At 6:52 pm PDT Wednesday, July 10, 1996, a large block of granite, with an estimated volume of 78,000 cubic yards, detached from the cliff between Washburn Point and Glacier Point, in Yosemite Valley.The first impact occurred at 18:52:28.0 Pacific Daylight Time (02:52:28 UTC), and the second at 18:52:41.6 PDT (02:52:41 UTC).

After detaching from the cliff, the rock mass slide [sic] down a rock shelf for 600 feet at an angle of 50 degrees from vertical and acquired sufficient speed to free-fall ballistically an estimated 1800 feet (550 m) prior to impacting about 200 feet (60 m) from the base of the cliff in the Happy Isles area of the valley floor in Yosemite National Park (field investigation with Gerald Wieczorak and Richard Waitt).One of the impacts killed a hiker near the cliffs.

One witness[3] "noted that the sky went black for six minutes as the dust raised by the cloud blocked out the late afternoon light."

[3] Structures damaged by the snapping of these trees included the Happy Isles Nature Center, a snack bar, and a bridge.