If anyone wants to see it in Google Maps… here ya go.
Our staid hydraulics textbook refers to this kind of spillway as a “Morning Glory” spillway; I suppose because of the resemblance to the shape of the flower. If you will search google images for “morning glory spillway” you will get a good many nice photos.
And the definitive word about skateboarding the Monticello Dam Glory Hole …
It might just be me, but how the heck are you supposed to skate in that thing? I literally don’t understand how they’re doing it.
They don’t skate in that part, they skate (or try to) in the lower, horizontal part - I’m assuming when there’s not thousands of gallons of water rushing through it.
Lake Berryessa and the Monticello Dam are only a few miles from the University of California at Davis. The Davis Wiki page on the Morning Glory Spillway gives a good description and shows several more photos.
Basically, the concrete pipe is in the shape of a big capital “L”, but the corner is curved not sharp. The vertical part drops down from the reservoir as we’ve seen in the earlier photos, so water that exceeds the desired level (i.e. in winter, the rainy season) passes down through the tube and bypasses the dam, exiting at the nearly-horizontal leg of the “L” (photo here). In the dry season, the reservoir level is below the “Glory Hole” intake level, so the entire pipe is dry, and the exit part of the pipe is then a 30ft diameter concrete playground for bikers and skateboarders. The photo here probably shows it best.
Thanks guys, now that I’ve seen the pictures it actually looks kinda fun!
It seems to be very close to the shore, if the flowerstalks in the foreground of the picture, and the location of it in the Googlemap-pic supplied by Nanoda are any indication.
Seems to me that’s just asking for an accident…
I think it is quite close to the shore; presumably this is to facilitate maintenance; a crane would be able to drop a cable straight into it, but according to that wiki site, the land nearest to it is securely fenced off.
That picture is just asking for a Something Awful Photoshop contest.
Mangetout, I’m sure the guys over on the next aisle from me are wondering what I’m snickering about.
ROFL
How did I know?
Chuck Norris was their…
[moderating]
Welcome to the Straight Dope, Derr170. This is the “General Questions” forum, where we try to stick to facts and answer questions. Comments like yours (preferably with proper spelling) might be more suited to MPSIMS. Please don’t post any more like that in GQ.
[/moderating]
That’s horrifyingly awesome. Apparently at least one person has died from it:
And check out some photos of what it’s like to rappel down one of these (while dry, sadly);
http://tastelessphoto.com/urban-eploration/bellmouth-spillway-exploration/ (scroll down)