Half Dome Fatal Fall
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 6:58 pm
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
Fatal Fall From Half Dome
On about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 8th, Valley District rangers, SAR personnel and trail crew members responded to vague cell phone reports that there’d been a fall with serious injury from the Half Dome cables (in October, the cable hand lines are laid down on the rock and the stanchions which hold the cables up are removed to prevent them from being damaged by avalanches). Responding personnel had to hike up the nine miles of trail and the slab approach to the northwest face due to marginal flying conditions. Orders were placed for several helicopters; two eventually made it into the Valley but were unable to transport crews to the site of the accident due to low clouds surrounding the dome. The medical hasty team arrived on scene at 5 p.m. and found the body of Emily Sandall, a 25-year-old New Mexico resident and graduate of the University of Montana, at a spot about 300 feet below the base of the cables. According to her hiking partner, Sandall was descending the cables when she slipped on the wet rock, lost her grip on the cable, and slid out of sight. Her body was flown out by long line under a helicopter the following day.
Contact Information
Name: Leslie Reynolds, Valley District Ranger
Fatal Fall From Half Dome
On about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 8th, Valley District rangers, SAR personnel and trail crew members responded to vague cell phone reports that there’d been a fall with serious injury from the Half Dome cables (in October, the cable hand lines are laid down on the rock and the stanchions which hold the cables up are removed to prevent them from being damaged by avalanches). Responding personnel had to hike up the nine miles of trail and the slab approach to the northwest face due to marginal flying conditions. Orders were placed for several helicopters; two eventually made it into the Valley but were unable to transport crews to the site of the accident due to low clouds surrounding the dome. The medical hasty team arrived on scene at 5 p.m. and found the body of Emily Sandall, a 25-year-old New Mexico resident and graduate of the University of Montana, at a spot about 300 feet below the base of the cables. According to her hiking partner, Sandall was descending the cables when she slipped on the wet rock, lost her grip on the cable, and slid out of sight. Her body was flown out by long line under a helicopter the following day.
Contact Information
Name: Leslie Reynolds, Valley District Ranger
My question is, did they go up in rainy or drizzly conditions? If they did, they were setting themselves up for disaster! Hiking up trails in wet or icy conditions is one thing, climbing rock slabs in those conditions is another. I wonder what kind of advice they may have received before trying this hike. Very tragic, and most probably completely avoidable. I remember being up on Half Dome with my girlfriend years ago and seeing two guys summit after climbing up the face. While we were resting on the saddle on the way down, one of the guys made it down and said his friend was freaking out coming down the cables! It's just a different situation from being roped up on the face. No safety valve if you slip.