A college student who slipped while hiking in Yosemite with her father said, “Dad, my shoes are slippery,” seconds before she plummeted to the ground.
Grace Rohloff, 20, fell 200 feet (60 meters) from the dangerous Half Dome after losing her balance while descending cables on the cliff.
She and her father Jonathan Rohloff are both experienced hikers, but they had slowed their descent to accommodate less experienced climbers and got stuck in a rain shower.
Rohloff watched in horror as his daughter tumbled down the steep rock face at the end of the descent on July 11.
“She just slid to the side, right past me, down the mountain,” Rohloff said. SF port“It happened so fast. I tried to put my hand up, but she was already gone.”
University of Arizona student Grace Rohloff slipped and fell in front of her horrified father while hiking in Yosemite.
Grace and her father Jonathan were experienced hikers, pictured here in the last photo of them during their climb, but they were caught in a rain storm while waiting for slower hikers to descend
He immediately scrambled down, but was unable to make it down the steep hill where the University of Arizona student had come to a stop.
Desperately hoping for a miracle, he began to scream, “Grace, I’m here. I’m not leaving you. If you can hear my voice, give me a sign. I love you.”
But it took another three hours before rescue teams could reach Grace, who had suffered serious head injuries.
“It was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen,” said hiker Erin McGlynn.
McGlynn, 20, was one of the other hikers Rohloff encountered as he desperately prayed for his daughter’s safety.
“It was also one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen. He was able to pull himself together, just in case he could give her some comfort. He did everything he could,” she added.
The father and daughter were experienced hikers who had long dreamed of completing Half Dome, a summit that only allows 300 hikers to reach the top each day.
They were overjoyed to be among the lucky ones who received a permit to undertake the journey on that fateful day.
Grace plunged 200 feet down the treacherous Half Dome after losing her balance while descending cables on the cliff
The father-daughter duo have long dreamed of completing Half Dome (pictured), where only 300 hikers can reach the summit each day.
When they set off, they were warned of a storm, but the storm appeared to be clear even as they climbed to the top via a 120-metre cableway.
Shortly after reaching the summit, a storm arose and they began the descent.
“There was this black cloud rolling in like crazy,” Rohloff said. “I thought, ‘We have to get down now because we don’t want to be standing here in the rain.’ It literally came rolling out of nowhere.”
The father and daughter could have easily walked down, but got stuck behind another group of climbers. They didn’t want to appear rude by passing them.
But as the seconds passed, the storm only grew stronger, until they came down in dangerous conditions.
“Daddy, my shoes are so slippery,” he remembers her saying when they decided to proceed with caution.
They were three-quarters of the way there when Grace’s new walking shoes began to slip and her feet fell out from under her.
Rohloff had to watch helplessly as she plummeted to the ground, and could only hope that she was still alive.
“I just wanted to pick up my daughter,” he said as he ran past the remaining cables.
Grace said to her father, “Daddy, my shoes are slippery,” seconds before she fell down
Jonathan tried to reach his daughter but had to wait three hours before rescue teams could reach Grace, who had suffered a serious head injury
Grace was a student at the University of Arizona whose cousin described her as someone who “brought light into so many lives”
After calling 911, Rohloff began to pray, along with other hikers who had witnessed the horrors.
Park ranger Shawna Daly cared for him and waited beside him in the howling wind and icy hail until a rescue helicopter could save Grace.
Rohloff praised the ranger for going “above and beyond” to comfort him.
He explained that he also found comfort in a coroner’s report that Grace likely died in the fall.
“If she was gone, she wouldn’t have had to suffer,” he explained, adding that he hopes rangers can find his daughter’s backpack, which contains the last photos she took during the trip.
Rohloff also paid tribute to his daughter’s “beautiful soul” as he recounted the horrors of their last day together.
“She was the star on every team she ever played on, but the 12th girl on the basketball team — Grace made that girl feel just as important,” Rohloff said. “She had a way of connecting people and making them feel special.”
Her mother Astraea Rohloff described her daughter as “pure happiness” and said she always did her best to make others feel good.
“Just being with her made your day a little bit better,” she said,
Since 2006, at least six people, including the student, have died after rainstorms left the surface of Half Dome (pictured) slippery
Emily Samora, Grace’s niece, who was going camping with her this summer, said she “brought light into so many lives.”
Sadly, Grace’s story is not an isolated incident. Since 2006, at least six people, including the student, have died after rainstorms made the surface of Half Dome slippery.
In 2010, the park imposed a limit on the number of hikers who could reach the summit each day, but this only led to more incidents, as those who had been granted permits were determined to reach the top despite the potential risks.
Rohloff would like the park rangers to install more features to make the cables safer, such as a second set lower to the ground and wooden planks that allow hikers to step from one cable to another.
He confirmed he would never raise the “unnecessarily dangerous” route again, but hoped measures could be taken to prevent another tragedy.
