Hiker Killed in Fall at Yosemite’s Half Dome ID’d as 29-Year-Old Arizona Woman

KABC ^ | 09/06/2019

[BenLurkin]

Danielle Burnett, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was scaling the steepest part of the trail Thursday when she fell more than 500 feet (150 meters) down the steep, rocky terrain.

Gediman says Burnett was dead when Park Rangers arrived on the scene.

Rangers installed cables to help hikers get to the top of the 8,800-foot rock face.

The cables are installed each summer to assist the climbs of thousands of hikers who make the popular 14-mile round trip.

[SpaceBar]

Insert stock photo of Half Dome here...

[EEGator]

I’m confused, did she tumble down 500’, or did she fall 500’ off a cliff?

[xp38]

Clearly an assault half dome.

[dp0622]

500 feet..”so far so good!!”

400 feet...”so far so good!”...

[dragnet2]

Don’t be confused. Imagine a steep set of stairs 500’ long made of jagged rock.

[Yogafist]

The beginning says she was scaling the steepest part of the trail, so she must have been climbing. There must be more to this, that part of the trail is very crowded, I have to imagine someone could have caught her. I hiked that last year, I didn’t think it was that bad. I think most of the deaths occur when people try to climb it during a rain storm.

[freedomlover]

Technically it wasn’t the fall that did the damage . . .

[SimpleJack]

I could definitely see someone falling even with cables on each side.

[ClearCase_guy]

Rangers installed cables to help hikers get to the top of the 8,800-foot rock face

I guess the thinking is -- "This is super dangerous! Most people would not attempt such a climb! You'd have to be crazy to try this! So … we'll just install these cables here so that a whole lot of people will be encouraged to take a crack at it …"

[cuban leaf]

Clearly an assault half dome.

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They should paint it black. :)

[ghost of nixon]

I’m confused, did she tumble down 500’, or did she fall 500’ off a cliff?

it is a very steep incline of granite, so if you let go of the cable and lose you footing, you start tumbling and bouncing down the incline

[EEGator]

Post#9 cleared it up.

[Cobra64]

That is not Half Dome.

[Rebelbase]

It's a trail up the back side of Half Dome. Posts in the rock have 2 x 4's on the ground and cables running from post to post to hang onto as one walks up the slope.

[Rebelbase]

It’s the backside of Half Dome.

[cuban leaf]

Don’t be confused. Imagine a steep set of stairs 500’ long made of jagged rock.

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Well, if she got a good push off and a swan dive, she could have picked up some serious speed and gotten quite a ways down before she actual hit anything. If she just slid off the edge, though, it would have been bumpy from the start.

Too bumpy.

[Enterprise]

[originalbuckeye]

Can anyone here tell us the degree of the wall? More than a 45 degree pitch? Looks very steep, almost like a 90 degree ladder. (And I’m assuming there is a different way back down.......)

[Rebelbase]