An Alaskan climbing influencer has died after falling from El Capitan, a famous vertical rock formation in California’s Yosemite National Park.
Balin Miller, 23, was live-streamed on TikTok ascending and subsequently falling from the monolith on Wednesday.
In an emotional social media post confirming her son’s death, his mother Jeanine Girard-Moorman said: “My heart is shattered in a million pieces. I don’t know how I will get through this. I love him so much. I want to wake up from this horrible nightmare.”
Details of what caused the incident are not clear, but Miller’s brother Dylan told AFP he was lead rope soloing - a technique that enables climbing alone while still protected by a rope - on a 2,400ft (730m) route named Sea of Dreams.
This reminds me of the time I saw a video of the guy in the indoor climbing gym, the guy forgot to put on the safety harness climbed to the top and just jumped, muscle memory he assumed he had the harness attached, but he hit the ground which was fatal