Rockfall killed one climber on Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan on Sunday. Mason Robison of Montana pulled loose some rock, severing his rope and causing him to fall 230 feet.
reports that his climbing partner was not injured.
Rockfall is commonplace in the park but fatalities are a rarity. The last death was reported in 1999 when a Colorado climber was killed by falling rocks on Glacier Point Apron; in 1996, a hiker was killed by a falling boulder. The largest accident occurred in 1980 when thousands of tons of granite came , killing three people.