Re: Woman dies while hiking on closed Mist Trail

A 56-year-old woman died in Yosemite National Park while hiking on a closed trail, park officials said Monday.

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article226765614.html

Really sad and unfortunate.

Just a crazy amount of snow on a lot of the trails.

Mist Trail just crazy. JMT wow. Yose Falls … yowza.

Mist Trail :



JMT :



From last weekend.

And from prior... Yosemite Falls from afar:



Be safe

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Chickon left Saturday evening. Basilbop and I stayed through Sunday, and it was much warmer. The snow and ice was cracking and falling off the walls everywhere. We had lunch at Mirror Lake probably when the incident occurred. As we were walking the road loop past Happy Isles, we had to move to the side and let a speeding ranger with sirens blasting head to Happy Isles past Upper Pines. We wondered then and figured it was not good.

Later as we wandered through Church Bowl on the way to the Aheahnee, we saw rangers move into the Ahwahnee meadow and start clearing the heli pad area of snowmen. They smashed them down and told some folks to clear out.

A bit later, as we drove out past Church a bowl, there were a number of emergency vehicles and ranger/SAR types. Not good. We didn’t ask, we just left.

Though we explored close to the walls on Thursday Friday and Saturday, Sunday started out obviously much warmer and we knew to stay away from ice fall areas. We videod the tail end of some impressive snowfalls off the Glacier Point apron near Curry. We missed getting even bigger ones off Half Dome while having lunch in Mirror Lake.

Oh, OT: Mirror: some guy was playing near thin ice and fell into the “lake” and got pretty soaked. His friends laughed. He’s lucky it was like 50 degrees that day and the sun was mostly out. If backpacking, serious issue. Get dry and warm!

Ice falling is no joke. Little bits from trees can hurt. I don’t want to be near the bigger chunks from the walls.

Very sad. Please be smart out there and stay in safe zones. Location alone isn’t everything, you gotta consider current conditions, as well!! And look up for dangers as well as around!

That's very sad. My prayers are with that person's family, friends, and our wider community.

Quote
JustKeepWalking
Very sad. Please be smart out there and stay in safe zones. Location alone isn’t everything, you gotta consider current conditions, as well!! And look up for dangers as well as around!

Thanks for the reminder, I definitely need to be more mindful or actual conditions.

i was there the day it happened, but had no idea that it took place until i got home and found out from a friend who heard it on the news... i was taking photos in the Valley when i saw a helicopter buzzing right above me, i wondered what was going on and figured it couldn't be good. sad, really sad.

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on Sunday February 24, 2019, a park visitor was killed in an incident on the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park. Xuan Wang, 56, from Cupertino, California was hiking on the trail when she was struck by falling rock and ice and she succumbed to her injuries soon thereafter.

The MIst Trail, a popular trail from Yosemite Valley to the top of Vernal Fall, is closed this time of year due to icy and hazardous conditions. The trail closure is clearly marked and there is a gate on the trail reminding visitors of the closure. Wang ignored the signs, went around the gate and the incident happened on the trail leading to Vernal Fall.

Sad to hear about. I know some people who have ignored the warnings for Ice Cut, the 4-mile trail gate, etc. Maybe a few folks here on the forums have done it as well. It's a bit of Russian Roulette in certain areas and conditions. All you can do is hope for best, and most of the time think it won't happen to you.

This brings me back to the question in a recent thread about YOSAR and what is billed to the rescuee if a sign is ignored.