A popular Alaskan climber fell to his death from Yosemite National Park's El Capitan, marking the third death in the park this year, the AP reports. Balin Miller, 23, died in a climbing accident Wednesday, his mother Jeanine Girard-Moorman confirmed. "He's been climbing since he was a young boy," she said. "His heart and soul was truly to just climb. He loved to climb and it was never about money and fame." Many posted tributes to Miller on social media, saying they had watched him climb on a TikTok livestream for two days before his death and referring to him as "orange tent guy" because of his distinctive camp setup.
While it's still unclear exactly what happened, his older brother, Dylan Miller, said Balin was lead rope soloing—a way to climb alone while still protected by a rope—on a 2,400-foot route named Sea of Dreams. He had already finished the climb and was hauling up his last bit of gear when he likely rappelled off the end of his rope, Dylan said. His death came on the first day of the federal government shutdown, which left national parks "generally" open, with limited operations and closed visitors centers, according to the National Park Service. The park service said in a statement that they are investigating the incident and "park rangers and emergency personnel responded immediately."
El Capitan is one of the most striking features of Yosemite National Park, an enormous sheer granite rock face of approximately 3,000 feet that entices big-wall rock climbers from all over the world. Alex Honnold completed the first free solo climb of El Capitan in 2017 for the documentary Free Solo. Earlier this year, an 18-year-old from Texas died in the park while free-soloing, or climbing without a rope, on a different formation. In August, a 29-year-old woman died after being struck in the head by a large tree branch while hiking.
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