3 hikers die from fall after crossing warning barrier in Yosemite

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/us/21brfs-3HIKERSSWEPT_BRF.html?_r=1&ref=us

Shame this.

Three kids in their twenties are at Yosemite, at the top of a waterfall. They cross a warning barrier to take pictures, and one slips.

Brian

Saw this on one of the cable news shows. They mentioned it happened in front of family and friends. I spent last week hiking to water falls in the GA mountains. All had signs with warnings and I felt were not really needed but I still followed them to set an example for my kids. I guess these were up for the same reason. I should not second guess warnings. Sad indeed.

brianW said:

They mentioned it happened in front of family and friends.

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What a tragedy. How horrible for those family and friends.

Two much more thorough news articles. Each lacks details of the other, so I recommend reading them both. This is a heart-wrenching tragedy, especially when it could have been avoided by mere common sense.

http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles...ath-waterfall-national-park-hikers-plunge.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4381580...s-who-went-over-yosemite-falls-presumed-dead/

TrishandAlex said:

What a tragedy. How horrible for those family and friends.

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Horrible is right. And such awful things some of the readers of the papers quoted are writing. May they never experience anything like this.

Not to reduce the tragedy or the sadness, but recently there was a dog who chased a squirrel in Yosemite. The dog lived to tell the tail/tale (pun intended). http://www.nationalparkstraveler.co...akes-dog-over-edge-yosemite-national-park8343

The stream above Vernal Falls is fast and has a relatively smooth bed. There have been a number of people who have gotten caught in the stream and swept over the falls.

The streambed below the falls is a boulder field--it may be very difficult to find the victims' bodies.

Doug

erugs said:

Not to reduce the tragedy or the sadness, but recently there was a dog who chased a squirrel in Yosemite. The dog lived to tell the tail/tale (pun intended). http://www.nationalparkstraveler.co...akes-dog-over-edge-yosemite-national-park8343

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In WW II, a tail gunner fell 18K ft without a parachute and survived with only minor injuries. Occasionally people and animals survive long falls.

In the Vernal Falls incident, the water flow would have been an additional factor--even if they survived the fall, they would likely have drowned. But then again, a few have survived going over Niagara Falls, too...

Doug

I was fortunate to have hiked the Mist Trail in Yosemite. There were warnings and barriers near the tops of both Vernal and Nevada Falls, and numerous people in the water above the falls at both places. We actually finished our lunches very quickly and left the area above Nevada Falls because there were quite a few people, some with very young children, in the stream maybe 50 feet from the top of the falls. If anyone lost their footing....we didn't want to witness anything tragic, so we hiked out of there.

I hate to read these types of stories of easily avoidables tragedies. I can't imagine what their friends and families are going through.

We actually finished our lunches very quickly and left the area above Nevada Falls because there were quite a few people, some with very young children, in the stream maybe 50 feet from the top of the falls. If anyone lost their footing....we didn't want to witness anything tragic, so we hiked out of there.

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Same here. It's really amazing. We were there in a time of late summer low water, but still these people are flapping around in the stream like it's Six Flags or something. People don't seem to get it that if you go down in 14" of fast-moving water on a smooth bed, you may need more than 50 feet to get upright again.

There was a broadcast Tuesday evening (I am not sure if it was the local CBS news or the network) that showed an amateur video of the trio losing their balance and going over the falls. At the time, I was watching from an adjacent room and didn’t know from where the video was shot. This would have been about two hours after the actual occurrence.
I am surmising that the broadcasters did not understand the gravity of what they were broadcasting. The video did not give me a sense of scale of the waterfall the people had gone over. It was not until I heard the news on Wednesday morning that I realized what I had seen. I’ve looked for the video (not that I really want to see it again but I wanted to verify if indeed that is what I saw) but it seems to have disappeared. Like others said, a truly avoidable tragedy.

JohnL

For anyone wondering what the area above the Falls looks like, I found a YouTube video shot just the day before this tragedy.

Note that he does throw in some shots of his girlfriend sunbathing on the rocks so if you're at work, your coworkers might question what you're watching.

But regardless, it's good to actually see the substantial barrier in question as well as likely the same water flow conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA-VWxVotvEp

edit: at 32 seconds you can actually see someone climbing over the barrier.

Have been pretty fascinated with this story. I thought it premature to rule them immediately deceased and was holding out hope as well. Days later now looking grim though.

Those falls are amazing, and the groomed trails (by comparison to what we have in New Hampshire) may form a complacency line of thinking. I know that I was less afraid of some of the potentially dangerous places I've been AFTER my trip to Disney and riding Space Mountain. Yosemite is all that it is pictured to be, and more. And if you are on vacation, how can anything bad really happen?

MichaelJ said:

For anyone wondering what the area above the Falls looks like, I found a YouTube video shot just the day before this tragedy.

Note that he does throw in some shots of his girlfriend sunbathing on the rocks so if you're at work, your coworkers might question what you're watching.

But regardless, it's good to actually see the substantial barrier in question as well as likely the same water flow conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA-VWxVotvEp

edit: at 32 seconds you can actually see someone climbing over the barrier.

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I was there in May a couple of years in a row, with the water about 80% of what it was on the news in this story. There are a lot of access points further upstream of the falls, at least one with a warning. We stopped to filter water (a huge moment on a dry 20 miles) and could easily have slid into the flow. We were practically paranoid about not getting in the water. It would have been head-deep in the middle at the point where we filled up; don't fool around!

It's a heart-breaker.

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Geez, and I was just thinking how respectful this thread has been compared to other forums. Oh well.

Families hire consultant to assess safety

The families of three hikers who were swept over Yosemite National Park's Vernal Fall last week have hired a consultant to assess whether safety measures were adequate.

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Romina Kiryakous, founder of Genesis Behavior Center Inc., will conduct the study, the Modesto Bee reported.

"I'm not content with that skimpy little rail," Kiryakous said. While at the park, she watched two women washing their hands on the other side of the railing. She plans to release her report Friday.

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Interesting that the families would hire a research based service company for children of Autism.

"Their priest, Father Genard Lazar, was on the church group outing with them when they died, said family friend Romina Kiryakous, who has been with the family since the tragedy."

That's not a skimpy barrier. It had to be voluntarily, consciously climbed over. She's just making a fool of herself.

A consultant to assess safety? My blood pressure just doubled reading that. Personal responsibility gets slaughtered more and more each year. Ugh.

One thing the National Park service COULD consider doing is listing how many people have died at the spots that people keep dying at over, and over, and over, and over again (i.e. Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls). A simple sign that says "23 people have died here" is going to scare the crap out of 90% of would be swimmers I would think.

Skimpy barrier? I did the hike a few years back, and it wasn't the skimpy barrier that kept me out of the stream, it was a fear of plunging over the waterfalls. For the hike to be safe, it should not require an insurmountable chain link fence to keep people out of the river. I think it would be an equal tragedy to deface the natural scenery with concrete and chain fences to keep people out of the stream. It really sounds like she is laying the groundwork for a lawsuit, which would be absolutely repugnant.