3 hikers die from fall after crossing warning barrier in Yosemite

[Craig]

While we wait for the consultants report, I'll throw this on the table.

It has been reported that the 3 individuals involved were Assyrians and part of a church group that lived in the second largest Assyrian community in the US. It is entirely possible these individuals had very little experience venturing outside their community let alone the wilderness. As inexperienced backcountry users they probably had no meter stick to measure their own capabilities and little concept of the natural forces at work and the potential risks associated with those forces. They had additional reinforcement that the risk was low as witnessed by other folks swimming. Additionally, they may have been fatigued from the hike to the top of the falls compounding their ability to accurately estimate the risk.

An Afghan family living in Orange County drove to the church on Thursday to say they had been among the 50 or so people at the top of the falls that day. They said that it was another party who was swimming. They told church workers that Badal and David were standing on a rock in the river posing for a photo. David slipped; Badal tried to grab him and Yacoub came from behind the barrier to jump in to try and save them. Other eyewitnesses say Badal slipped first.

The summary of “A comprehensive study of visitor safety in the national park system” dated 2002 suggests:

Because of variability among individuals' behaviors and the variety of contributory factors, it is impossible to eliminate all sources and causes of accidents. It has been observed that the only way to avoid potentially harmful effects of “human errors” is to make systems “goof proof” so that they do not fail in ways that can cause serious accidents. An important area for further research is to identify methods for creating activity systems that are more “goof proof”.

Perhaps the warning systems were not adequate?

 

[Stan]

Perhaps the warning systems were not adequate?

I think it is a bit insulting to any group to suggest it doesn't know the purpose of a fence. More likely it's an immature sense of immortality that led to this sad conclusion, a characteristic that knows no bounds with respect to race, color or creed.

 

[Craig]

Unfortunately, there has been another fatality in Yosemite.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43976584/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001

A 26-year-old California woman fell 600 feet to her death Sunday while descending Yosemite's famous Half Dome, the National Park Service said Monday.
Hayley LaFlamme, of San Ramon in the Bay Area, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after park rangers received a 911 call around noon reporting the fall of a hiker from the steps and cable system up the steep granite face.
The park service said that LaFlamme appeared to have slipped while climbing back down, accompanied by three friends.
"A severe lightning, thunder, and rainstorm was present in the area of Half Dome for several hours in the morning and early afternoon yesterday," the park service said in a statement. "This type of weather can make for hazardous trail conditions and the granite slopes become very slick."
Signs warn Half Dome hikers against using the cables during rain and lightning but the trail does not officially close, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The trail never officially closes.

LaFlamme's death is the 14th at the park this year, well above the 5-6 averaged in recent years through July.

That’s over 3 times as many deaths than were on Everest this year.

Oh well, the cost of having wild national park I guess?

 

[roadtripper]

It really is only a matter of time before some of the more dangerous national park attractions (i.e. Angel's Landing, Half Dome, etc.) are closed due to public outcry. I just hope I never see that happen because some of my most treasured adventures were on places like that, and I'm certainly not the only one.

 

[Maddy]

Soon they will be filing law suits because they were attacked by a bear after trying to feed it a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

It never ends!

 

[Chip]

Perhaps the warning systems were not adequate?

Unfortunately "adequate" might require translations into every known form of communication. I recently helped a Canadien fuel up at the self serve diesel station in Bethlehem. He spoke NO English, I mean none. I had to employ my 35 year old high school french to finally figure out how much he wanted to pump (dollars, gallons...litres ???). After, I realized I should have checked his truck to make sure it WAS diesel. There's no way this guy, closer to home than I was, was going to be comprehending any trail or street signs or warnings that weren't in French. I really don't think I'm a language snob, but I do believe there is some necessity to be able to communicate, even at the most basic level, in the local language...or accept the responsibilty if something goes wrong.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I think a fence or guard rail is unambiguous. In case it is not, I'm sure there is some international symbol for "don't jump the fence, you may fall into a swiftly moving current and be washed over a waterfall and die."

If nothing that specific, then one of the generic warning / danger signs should suffice:

or

Tim

 

[griffin]

Unfortunately "adequate" might require translations into every known form of communication.

Or, a pictorial or physical warning - say, a nice, stout railing around the viewing area?

There is no possible written or graphic warning that will prevent some people from choosing to ignore it. Either because their being a jackass (not 5 seconds after I took the attached photo, a man I had heard speaking French walked up to the horses and started petting them), or they see something that makes them decide to ignore the warning - like seeing other people on the other side of a railing.

I almost wonder if the proliferation of warning signs and barriers winds up making them less effective; that they can become so ubiquitous we either don't register them or stop taking them seriously.

 

[Craig]

It is my understanding that the fence had at least one "international no sign" (with a swimmer in it).

 

[griffin]

This is also one of my favorites:

 

[DougPaul]

Perhaps the warning systems were not adequate?

When my family hiked Grand Canyon in ~1973, we encountered some European students drinking river water (not very pleasant--liquid grit) at the bottom of the Bright Angel Tr. They hadn't carried any water...

When we inquired, they said that they had seen the warning signs. They simply hadn't believed them...

IMO there is no way of protecting everyone from their own foolishness and ignorance. (One can try with the hope that it will help some, but still one cannot reach everyone.)

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

This is also one of my favorites:

Looks to me like an invitation to see if you can balance on the railing...



Doug

 

[bikehikeskifish]

IMO there is no way of protecting everyone from their own foolishness and ignorance. (One can try with the hope that it will help some, but still one cannot reach everyone.)

I am trying hard not to get on a soap box here, but I'm on board with basic protections and letting Darwin eliminate those who choose to ignore the basic protections. Then again, I believe strongly in personal responsibility.

Tim

 

[Chip]

Looks to me like an invitation to see if you can balance on the railing...



Doug

Right. Looks like a welcoming invitation for Planking at this location.

 

[DougPaul]

Right. Looks like a welcoming invitation for Planking at this location.

Note the 3rd item (15 May 2011) under Notable incidents...

Doug

 

[Snowflea]

It really is only a matter of time before some of the more dangerous national park attractions (i.e. Angel's Landing, Half Dome, etc.) are closed due to public outcry.

Having done both, a difference in the above-mentioned routes is that Angel's Landing can easily be climbed without the assistive devices. I have done it.

In contrast, the Half Dome cables enable the non-rock climber to ascend a technical, Class 5 route. In today's litiginous culture, I'm surprised the cables are still in place...

 

[Craig]

I'll throw this into the mix.

Yosemite Park is a lot like many other parks in the US.

Disney, 6 flags, Universal Orlando all have thousands of visitors a year, they all have attractions and they all make money. Folks go to each one of these theme parks for family vacations, weekend getaways or just for fun. They are all family friendly.
Aside from a few rock climbers & backpacker the vast majority of the thousands of daily visitors to Yosemite are theme park goers.

Yosemite, unlike its other theme park brethren, is different in it has many unattended dangerous natural attractions. The parks roads and trails funnel you to these attractions. These dangerous attractions result in numerous deaths yearly.
Im pretty sure if Disney or 6 flags boasted an average yearly fatality rate of 5-6 people they wouldn't be in business very long. Yosemite's fatality rate seems to be a cost of doing business.

Some might think that when your theme park charges rates for accommodations, food & sundries that are on par with it's competition, that they would make the safety of their visitors on par with their competition. I guess when you don't have to worry about insurance costs you don't have to worry much about visitor safety.

The Ahwahnee with 123 guest rooms @ $475 per night
Yosemite Lodge with 226 guest rooms @ $175 per night
Curry Village with 319 canvas tents @ $110 per night
Set up your own tent on their site @ $90 per night

Yose certainly isn't catering to the hiker and these accommodations are right in the valley. When I was there mid week May of this year the Ahwahnee and Lodge were booked solid.

On the other hand, one would think that the NPS Management Policy on visitor safety would take precedence. The first sentence of 8.2.5 reads:

The saving of human life will take precedence over all other management actions as the Park Service strives to protect human life and provide for injury-free visits.

This section goes on to give the superintendents some wiggle room in their implementation of the management policy which it appear Don Neubacher is taking advantage of.

When you create, promote & profit from a theme park, that is visited by families from every cultural background in the world, don't you have a responsibility to do everything possible to ensure the safety of your visitors?

 

[MichaelJ]

As of 2006, 15 deaths in 16 years at the Disney Florida resort. There were a bunch in 2009, I don't know about other recent years.

Perhaps the Yosemidisney solution is to load all the visitors into mini tram cars a quarter mile from the falls, secure them in their seats, then drive them past the viewpoint.

Nature is inherently more risky than animitronics. We should not have to sanitize the natural world to be able to experience it. People need to learn common sense and understand that they are responsible for their actions.

 

[Jaytrek57]

Craig,

Going to have to repectfully, disagree.

You are equating.....theme parks.....with National Parks? Or "Wild" areas?

Off the top of head, the "private" or non-public ""parks" (BUSINESS) have an obligation to keep their "parks" safe....to everyone, w/o reason.

The others, tech/speaking, w/i reason. Not so much. Unless, lawyers turn it that way.

JMHO.

Peace.

 

[JohnL]

Warning: I've tried very hard to be sensitive but some people may not appreciate my semi-sarcastic view on realism. Read at your own peril.

The problem with common sense is that it isn't. Many visitors to "natural" settings are woefully ignorant of any of the unforgiving forces in the real world, and I don't mean the MTV show. People have become so dumbed down, antisepticized, plasticized, Yogi Beared, Jellystoned, video gamed, app'ed, over-entertained, theme parked and pampered that they obliviously put themselves in danger by situations so apparent that a caterpillar with three brain cells has the advantage over them. These people will readily scamper from their cars, running after a roadside Grizzly Bear family so that they can get a "pritty pitchah" to show their BFF back home, thinking that the bears will sit still like an overfed house cat for them.

Yes, it is a tragedy that the three people lost their lives and it's not a laughing matter how their friends and family must feel. But I unknowingly saw the video of the rushing water they were in and I saw them tumbling around in the water and I watched with my eyes and mouth wide open as they disappeared over the lip of the falls, and in my mind I could only bring forth the words "What the hell were these people thinking?" to deliberately put themselves in that situation. I still get a shudder when I visualize what I saw. The signs were there for them to read and the fence was there for them to stay behind. But they willfully ignored them just as the guy in the YouTube video mentioned above climbed over the fence at the brink of the falls. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and sometimes smart people do really dumb things. We're humans. It's what we do.

It was mentioned above that a sign saying that "X number of people have died here" would deter people from climbing over the barriers. While I agree that it might deter some people but other people would puff up their bravado, climb over the fence and pose for photos with the sign right up front in the image. Remember that the tragedy on Mt Everest in 1996 was the biggest sales booster that the guiding companies could have envisioned. It's when a tragedy turns into a blessing. And sometimes blessings beget tragedies.

Should more barriers be erected, should they be higher, more impervious, with more signs, bigger signs, signs with flashing lights, in nine languages (not sure what how that family from Mongolia will fare but they'll probably figure it out long before some of us will), is that what we should do? But wouldn't that precipitate the problem that we're talking about in the first place? People have always died from recreational pursuits and people have always died doing unthinkably stupid things. And they always will. And we'll feel badly. But we won't stop the dying. We're humans. We live. We die. Sometimes much sooner than we should.

JohnL