Hiker Falls To Death From Park Cliff

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Hiker Falls To Death From Park Cliff

Park dispatch received a 911 call from a hiker at Columbia Point last Friday, reporting a stranded hiker on a cliff band above the Upper Yosemite Fall trail. Rangers spotted the man moving around on a tree-covered ledge. Using a loudspeaker, they told him to sit in a safe location and wait for the rescue team to reach him. He retreated from the ledge into the trees. A technical team climbed to his location, but was unable to find the man or make voice contact with him. They found the area to be extremely hazardous, with debris-covered ledges separated by steep cliff faces and gullies. The areas was searched until darkness without success. The next morning, a woman contacted the park and reported that her 61-year-old father had been missing since Friday afternoon and that he might have been hiking in the Yosemite Falls area. The park helicopter reconnoitered the area. The man’s body was found near the base of one of the cliffs in late morning. A technical team climbed to the location and confirmed that he was dead. The body was extricated via long line and taken to Ahwahnee Meadow.