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.
He was using a rope. I imagine the risk of death while climbing with a rope is outweighed by the health benefits of leading an active life style.
Besides, I’m sure he loved doing it. Sometimes you have to take risks in life for the things you love.
Eh… I’m no actuary, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that I will not die in a rock climbing accident.
Yeah but he died. The health benefits were explicitly NOT outweighed because he’s fucking dead!
Good health and love aren’t worth much when you cease to exist.
Also, his mom gotta bury her son. She thought he was gonna go out, live his life, do stuff. Now when his birthday comes, she will cry. She gets to throw all his stuff away or box it up and save it because shes too heartbroken to get rid of it.
Have you ever got in a car to go somewhere to do something fun? You can die doing that too, but millions (billions?) of people drive every day.
Eating an apple is healthy too unless you choke on it. Accidents can happen doing healthy things.
Cars are a mode of transportation, its a tool that gets us somewhere. Apples are nourishment, we literally need to eat to live.
Nobody needs to climb mountains to live.