Episode 11: A Snake Dike Tragedy

Around sunset on November 7, 2015, Angela Uys (26) was at an anchor partway up Snake Dike on Half Dome, preparing to rappel. Her tether system was not effectively clipped to the anchor, and when she weighted the system it failed. She fell approximately 500 feet to her death. In this episode, Ashley speaks with Yosemite climbing ranger Jesse McGahey, who responded to and investigated this tragedy, and the two discuss what went wrong and how similar accidents might be prevented. You can read Jesse's full report from Accidents in North American Climbing here: bit.ly/2gbz1Ba.

Thanks to David Iliff (License: CC-BY-SA 3.0) for the beautiful photo of Half Dome's southwest face, where Snake Dike is found.