The Washington Monument will continue to be off-limits to visitors in the wake of last month's damaging earthquake,
chaussures mbt pas cher, officials said Monday. But there's still plenty to see.Beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, mountain climbers will simultaneously rappel down each of the monument's four sides to examine the extent of the damage suffered by the landmark. That's the only way authorities can get a detailed look at the exterior of the monument, which stands just over 555 feet tall.“The good news is that it is structurally sound,
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ugg goedkoop bestellen, said at a news conference Monday. " The original architects knew what they were doing.”A Denali National Park ranger will lead the mountain climbers' slow-and-careful " expedition" down the sides of the monument.The monument's elevator system was damaged in the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that rocked much of the East Coast on Aug. 23. Several of the monument's exterior tiles also cracked. All damage seems to be in the top 100 feet of the monument.
Jennifer Talken-Spaulding, a National Park Service ranger,
true religion sales, recalled touring the damaged areas shortly after the earthquake: " When I walked up and saw daylight coming through the cracks at the top,
moncler jacken outlet, it just broke my heart,” she said during the news conference.Since the earthquake, rangers have been using a foam-like filler and caulk to try to minimize water seeping in through cracks in the monument's mortar that are up to a quarter-inch wide.The Washington Monument is both the world's tallest stone monument as well as the world's tallest obelisk, and is considered a must-see for visitors to the nation's capital. On a normal day visitors can take a 70-second elevator ride to the observation deck 500 feet above the National Mall.
The only view of the observation deck that the public can see these days is in a newly released Battle to identify Vietnamese MIAs
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-- Alexa Vaughn in Washington and Rene Lynch in Los Angeles
Photo: Bob Vogel, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks,
Moncler vânzare, talks about earthquake damage suffered by the Washington Monument. Credit: Jacquelyn Martin / Associated PressTopics related articles: