Arizona hiker falls to her death
while climbing Yosemite
National Park's Half Dome
Fox News,
by
Robert Gearty
Original Article
Posted By: MissMolly,
9/8/2019 4:26:36 AM
An Arizona woman plummeted to her death Thursday while ascending the iconic granite cliffs of Half Dome in California's Yosemite National Park, officials said.
The victim was identified as Danielle Burnett, 29, of Lake Havasu City, park rangers said.
In a statement, park officials said Burnett "fell over 500 feet down steep, rocky terrain, and was deceased when Park Rangers arrived on the scene," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. She was scaling the steepest part of the trail when she fell, a Yosemite spokesman said.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
LoneVoice 9/8/2019 6:21:58 AM (No. 174375)
From the headlines you'd think she was climbing up the vertical face of Half Dome. Then it made it sound like she fell from the trail the tourists use on the other side of Half Dome. If so this woman might have died from not paying attention.
This was a poorly written article.
5 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Highlander 9/8/2019 7:20:58 AM (No. 174408)
I was there, hiking exactly that part with the cables, as a much younger adult. It’s a truly scary trail but passable with caution. You just have to be careful. Getting up there at the top, looking down, can turn your legs to jelly. I can only imagine the terror of that woman going over the side to her death.
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
FunOne 9/8/2019 9:28:47 AM (No. 174483)
Very sad. I hate to see any outdoor recreation experience result in death, but risk is involved in many such experiences.
That said, look for the democrat presidential candidates call for erecting "safety barriers" in all "at risk areas" of our national parks--and divert any border wall funding to support this.
4 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
earlybird 9/8/2019 12:09:28 PM (No. 174657)
What #4 said. Everything involves risk. Some choose to stay indoors and watch TV. Not good for their health. Elsewhere today we see an article that bicycles kill more people than shootings (paraphrased). And then there are the accidents involving aircraft, boats, automobiles, motorcycles. And on and on. The liberals feed off of our need for absolute 100% guaranteed safety. Just tell them about your concern. They will be happy to pass a new law or regulation.
4 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
earlybird 9/8/2019 12:39:12 PM (No. 174676)
Here is a video of the climb up Half Dome. No, it’s not the vertical face. But have a look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar9pNenQbK8
1 person likes this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
earlybird 9/8/2019 12:48:50 PM (No. 174683)
Here is a photo of a portion of the cabled route from which she fell. You could not call this a “trail”. Along with the photo, an article from a specialized website on the safety issues. Too many are unfit for a climb like this. And the crowding is obvious. Those ascending and those descending follow the same set of cables.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2395465/yosemite-permits-arent-making-half-dome-safer
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 9/8/2019 4:16:23 PM (No. 174825)
I've done this "climb" basically a steep walk up, fairly smooth granite, with a steel cable "handrail" and many
cross braces to help your footing. Not a place for the inattentive or foolish, you had better keep a hand on the steel cable to protect yourself against a stumble. That stumble that would be merely embarrassing in your front yard, can be fatal on this route.
I wonder if this is another selfie gone wrong.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
earlybird 9/8/2019 4:48:10 PM (No. 174843)
I have never done this. I’d be interested to know what #8 thinks of the YouTube video posted at #6. Someone doing the entire climb with a head-mounted video camera…
0 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
DVC 9/8/2019 7:29:13 PM (No. 174939)
#9, opened the link, found no video of the climb, but the photo from a distance is a fair representation of what it is. A steep, moderately smooth granite walk up with a handrail and cross bars to help your footing
every 6 ft or so. Cannot step from cross bar to cross bar, must keep good footing on the rock in between, but can rest and get more stable at each cross bar.
Certainly not for the faint of heart or clumsy, or inattentive. A stumble with a poor grip or no grip on the cable handrail is almost certain to be fatal.
Sorry she was killed.
1 person likes this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 9/8/2019 7:41:20 PM (No. 174952)
OK, checked again, saw the correct link to the video.
A very good representation of the climb, the only thing that I remembered differently, is there being ONE
cable oiousn the right, and I kinda thought the cross bars were somewhat closer than they are. It was a
long time ago that I did this and there were not even CLOSE to that many people on the mountain.
Maybe 45-50 total that day.
We had no gloves the rubber palmed gloves the video guy has look to be ideal for added grip.
No place for an error, but that should be pretty obvious to anyone of normal intelligence.
I can tell you that when you are on a 45 degree rock face it feels MUCH steeper. I learned
to judge angle by extending an arm. If you can touch the rock pretty easily by reaching level
to it, not leaning in much at all, that is about 45 degrees. Seems more like 60 at first guess.
Either way, you fall, you are NOT stopping. Hold on.
2 people like this.
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