Man falls to his death off Yosemite's Half Dome

KFSN, ABC Fresno ^ | 8/23/11

[socal_parrot]

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Yosemite National Park officials are trying to determine why a man fell to his death while climbing Half Dome Monday evening.

Park officials tell Action News, search and rescue crews recovered the body of an unidentified man Tuesday morning at the base of the popular dome.

[SZonian]

Did you notice the folks OUTSIDE of the cables?

THAT is ridiculous as well.

[semaj]

"As those into climbing know, it was Harding who later first climbed El Capitan's Wall of the Morning Light. It was a big deal. Unless your two high-school buddies were very wealthy, very experienced, and VERY well connected, I have my doubts.:

I understand your scepticism, although todays modern, lightweight, and high-tech equipment makes the ascent a little bit more accessible to the well-equipped climber.

Notable speed climbs have been acocmplished by climbing teams well within 3 hours and solo climbs of the west face have been accomplsihed in under 4 hours.

[Buckeye McFrog]

so there’s a half dome someplace other than Minneapolis?

[socal_parrot]

The guys outside the cables a a problem. You're concentrating on your task and all of a sudden, someone coming up/down on the outside puts his hand on yours.

A nice view from the cables...

[socal_parrot]

I don’t know, sounds like a pretty safe trip this year. Just don’t trip getting out of the car at Tuolumne Meadows.

[SZonian]

Cool pic, yours from your ascents?

That would make sense. You’re not expecting such and being surprised by somebody could cause big problems.

[Noumenon]

Officials suspect that a mysterious force causing acceleration of 32 feet per second, per second which has been known to affect climbers on the rock face, may have been the cause.

Well now, the 0bama adminsitration is just going to have to get busy and ban it.

[Carry_Okie]

I understand your scepticism, although todays modern, lightweight, and high-tech equipment makes the ascent a little bit more accessible to the well-equipped climber.

Which has nothing whatever to do with the climbing situation in the 1950a, which is what the post was about. I'm well aware of the major improvements in both art and technology since then.

[Future Snake Eater]

Yeah, I know, but I figured it was close enough...

[Moltke]

To all those who said 'Gravity':

[uncbob]

At age 57 and my wife 58 we climbed up and back from the parking lot in one day 5:30 am to 5:30 PM

Most memorable day of our lives

[cyclotic]

Sudden decelleration syndrome

[Larry Lucido]

You all just don’t appreciate the gravity of the situation.

[socal_parrot]

Not mine. Found it on the on the internet.

[uncbob]

Actually the climb up the chains was easy
I thought the switch backs just to get to the flat area where you can walk around before the cable climb was worse

I did a video of the entire day

The view from the tops of the 2 falls you pass was really cool

[Marko413]

I climbed it with my father and brother almost 20 years ago. Without knowing more details, I’ll venture and say that anyone who falls was probably doing something they knew they shouldn’t. The cables aren’t near as bad as you think, but going outside of them is asking for trouble. At the top, there wasn’t any railing so you have to be careful about getting close to the ledge. The area at the top is huge so if you want to avoid the edges, that isn’t hard to do. Just like the waterfall deaths, I think this guy was doing something that he shouldn’t have been doing.

[isom35]

Could be a serial killer.

[socal_parrot]

I first did it at 52 and again last year three weeks shy of 54. I am hooked.

[redhead]

"trying to determine why a man fell to his death while climbing Half Dome..."

1. slipped
2. jumped
3. pushed