Posted on 08/10/2026 1:20:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A 30-year-old climber who made headlines for racing up Yosemite’s famed El Capitan in record time has died in an accident in the Sierra Nevada.
Jake Whisenant, a Mammoth Lakes climber known for his speed ascents, died Aug. 3, according to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Coroner.
Officials have not released further details about the circumstances of the accident.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“….and if you know anything about geology/petrology you know gneiss rots…”
After forty years of banging on granite (in the form of tombstones) I couldn’t trust granite too well. I’ve seen huge chunks suddenly pop out of clean solid granite.
“Not everyone’s goal is life to, “ Die an old man laying in bed, pissing all over his self.”
Many of us have expressed that sentiment and meant it, if not in challenging mountains at least in the matter of losing control of ourselves in extreme age but in cases like Jacob’s I often wonder about the results of a poll of the operator on his way down…
Any thoughts on Mt. Chimborazo?
I climbed Cayambe, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo in Ecuador several years before I climbed Aconcagua.
Chimborazo was a 1-day climb from the climbers hut. Aconcagua took 3 days just to make it to base camp and 21 days round trip.
Impressive. Did you do a Jimmy Cagney impression when you summited? Made it Ma! Top of the World!
No. There were two people having altitude problems. I was just worried about how to get them down to high camp at around 19,600 ft elevation. That day started at 3 a.m. and ended at 12 p.m. I took one of the people ahead of the rest of the group who had someone else leading them. My person was having the worse altitude problems so it was important to get to lower altitude fast. She was the wife of a fortune 500 CEO. In the two month climbing window I think 7 people died from high altitude sickness complications (pulminary edema and cerebral edema). We all made it out safe, but I had some frostbite on four fingers. Loss of feeling that came back gradually over 5 years. At least I think it all came back.
Just found out our dentist, whom we love, is training to climb Half Dome. I just don’t get it.
Sounds like he set a speed decent record.
Sorry to hear. Not all fun and games as this thread shows.
The terminal velocity of a human falling through the air is about 120 mph, but it changes depending on body position: belly-to-earth is ~120 mph, head-up is 150–180 mph, and head-down is 180–200+ mph. Don’t know which way he was.
********** I once climbed the Grand Teton. But now at seventy-eight years old, I have acrophobia, an unresonable fear of heights. I hope soon to overcome that and then I can watch things like you “attack on El Capitan” without white knuckes on the arm chair...***********
Mr G (also 78) climbed Grand Teton on his 54th birthday. He would give anything to do any kind of climbing again, however, after 5 years of serious back issues I’ve told him if he so much as stands on a ladder I will hurt him.
Chimborazo sounds like a cuisine item at Chipotle..
“Free climbing would be considered as suicidal.”
I agree. I learned how to climb at Joshua Tree and I was told to learn knots, belays, and anchors. Watching Alex Honnold is admirable but sad. Challenges are good and showing off is silly.
Speed climbing...........
Just another Darwin Award.
Thankfully the dumba&* didn’t hit someone else on the down to collect his award.
There are several different climb routes. From a Brave search:
Whisenant and his partner Brant Hysell completed the Lurking Fear ascent on October 27, 2024, in a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 32 seconds. This achievement broke the previous record of 3 hours and 4 minutes, which had been held by Yuji Hirayama and Nick Fowler since 2003.
He was trying to break the record descent time of 32 feet per second.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.