A heavy rainstorm hit Yosemite National Park on July 13, which caused a college student to slip and fall to her death.
Grace Rohloff, 20, had hiked thousands of miles with her father over the years.
On July 11, she secured one of the 225 permits through the daily lottery system to hike Half Dome, which had been on her bucket list. The father-daughter duo were ecstatic.
The following day, they made the drive to Yosemite from Phoenix and set out on the 16-mile trail early in the next morning. Upon arriving, a ranger told them about a potential storm that would be moving into the area later in the day.
When the duo made it to the bottom of Half Dome’s cables, however, the sky was clear.
So they made the decision to proceed with the trail. Supported by the cable system, they made their way up and eventually reached the top, where they enjoyed panoramic views of the valley.
Not long afterwards, however, a roaring thunderclap echoed through the sky.
Her father immediately knew they had to get down as the trail would become difficult with rain. While they could have gone down quickly as experienced hikers, however, the people in front of them was descending slowly and they were hesitant to pass them as they did not want to seem impolite.
They eventually found themselves trapped on the cables as the rainstorm rolled in.
The potential dangers quickly became obvious as the hikers in front of them began to slide around on the slick granite.
Grace had worn new hiking shoes for the trip but they offered her little traction. Her father remembers her telling him that they were ‘so slippery’ in the rain.
When they were three-quarters of the way down, Grace’s feet slid from under her. Her father tried to reach his hand up but by the time he did, she had already slid off to the side and down the mountain.
Desperate to save his daughter, he went down the trail as fast as he could. He knew the slope she had gone down was about 200 to 300 feet but believed she was still alive.
Once he got to the bottom, he quickly realized the mountain was too step and that he wouldn’t be able to reach where she was. He called 911 and began to call out to his daughter, in case she was alive and conscious.
It ultimately took three hours for a rescue helicopter to reach her, during which there was pouring rain and howling winds. It also began to hail at one point.
Unfortunately, however, Grace had died from the fall.
A coroner later told her father that she had sustained a severe head fracture and likely passed away during the fall. Grace’s parents found it comforting as it meant she did not suffer.
They said another thing that might help is if the rangers could retrieve Grace’s backpack, which contained all the pictures she took during the hike. According to her father, the bag had gotten separated from her while she was falling.
However, officials have not yet responded to the request.
Since 2006, at least half a dozen people have slipped and fallen to their deaths during rainstorms at Half Dome. Others, were lucky to survive.
Grace’s father has since spoken out about the cable system, which he believes, ‘could be much safer’. He’d like to see the system improved, with a second set of cables mounted closer to the bottom.
While he himself will not be going back up to Half Dome, he would like to advocate for a safer way to get to the top.
