A 23-year-old mountaineer fell to his death on Wednesday in an accident after reaching the summit of a challenging route at El Capitan, the famed vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park.
The climber, Balin Miller, had scaled the rock alone on a rope for days, then fell while rappelling down to retrieve haul bags that had gotten stuck as he tried to pull them up, his mother, Jeanine Moorman, said in an interview.
Mr. Miller did not appear to realize that the rope was not long enough to reach the bags and slid off the end of it, Tom Evans, a photographer who was at Yosemite at the time, wrote on social media.
Mr. Miller’s death shocked onlookers who had been watching his ascent from the base of the rock at Yosemite and over a livestream that one of them broadcast during his climb. To many, he was simply known as the “orange tent guy,” because of the color of the gear he used on his way up.
The National Park Service, which oversees Yosemite, did not respond to a request for comment or issue any statements about the death. Some park officials were on furlough because of the government shutdown, but national parks were generally open with limited operations, according to the agency.
Ms. Moorman said that she was at home in Greenacres, in eastern Washington, where she lived with Mr. Miller, his older brother and his younger sister, when park rangers called her to say that her son had died.
“He loved to climb,” she said, adding that he was known for his exuberance, spontaneity and joy. “He was so well loved by so many people. I can’t believe he’s gone.”
Mr. Miller, who was born in Anchorage, grew up climbing with his brother and their father, both nurses by trade, said Ms. Moorman, a school nurse. She said that Mr. Miller’s father was a climber, too, though not as accomplished.
Earlier this year, Mr. Miller climbed Cerro Torre in Patagonia, including its ice tip, Ms. Moorman said. He also finished a solo ice climb in the Canadian Rockies on a notorious path called “Reality Bath” that had not been completed in 37 years, she said.
Over the summer, he became the first person to solo climb the 9,000-foot “Slovak Direct” route on Denali, one of the most dangerous at the national park in Alaska of the same name. He taught himself by reading books on climbing and by climbing with friends, Ms. Moorman said.
“How can you not admire him for what he did?” she said.
Before those climbs, Mr. Miller had spent several semesters as an engineering student at Montana State University before leaving to travel, Ms. Moorman said. He did not want to work a 9-to-5 job and had been exploring several career paths, including becoming a firefighter, she said.
Alpine climbing was his passion, she said, describing him as someone who liked to “live on the dangerous side.”
“Everyone should experience real fear and danger at some point, which is easily done in the mountains,” Mr. Miller once wrote. “I think it would help a lot of people become less stressed over more frivolous problems.”
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.
The post Climber Dies in Fall After Scaling Yosemite’s El Capitan appeared first on New York Times.
