An Arizona college student died earlier this month after slipping and falling while hiking in Yosemite National Park in California, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
Grace Rohloff, 20, was hiking with her father on July 13 and had successfully reached the top of Yosemite's Half Dome, one of the park's most famous and challenging hikes. But while descending the Half Dome cables during a sudden thunderstorm and downpour, she slipped on a wet patch of rock and fell down the mountainside, her father, Jonathan Rohloff, said in an interview with KPNX.
The Mariposa County coroner confirmed that the fall caused Grace's death.
“She was in between the logs and she slid to the ground and you know it happened really fast,” Rohloff told KPNX. “There's no way that 10 minutes before, when she was up there smiling from ear to ear, I thought I only had 10 minutes left with her. It was a tragedy.”
Rohloff described how the couple had completed several hikes together throughout Arizona and how his daughter was thrilled when she received a permit to climb Half Dome in Yosemite. The dome stands more than 8,800 feet above sea level and a round-trip hike to the summit is more than 14 miles. The Half Dome cables encompass the last portion of the hike and allow hikers to climb without rock climbing gear.
“She told me it was something that was on her bucket list, something she had always wanted to do, and she was so happy about it,” said Rohloff, who described her daughter as “fearless.”
According to Rohloff, Grace was studying to be a teacher at Arizona State University and planned to be a student teacher at Valley Luthern High School, where she graduated. The high school announced on Facebook that a celebration of her life was planned for this Saturday.
Yosemite National Park officials were not immediately available for comment and did not release a statement on the student's death. Rohloff told KPNX he hopes for a safer cable system at Half Dome, a site that has claimed the lives of other hikers in the past.
“If we can make the cable system in Yosemite a lot safer, so that people can see that beautiful piece of God's earth without being in danger, that's what she would want,” Rohloff said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
