Videophilia

[Pangloss62]

You got that right, Kit. Perhaps the most notable cliff incident is when a base jumper, protesting our new rule to prohibit base jumping in our parks, jumped off El Capitan in Yosemite (to her death). So much for that argument.

This Summer is looking to be notable for NPS death:


On the morning of Thursday, June 22nd, 43-year-old Juanita Richardson of McBain, Michigan, fell from a cliff above Lake Superior about a half mile southwest of Miners Castle. Richardson was picnicking along the cliffs with her husband when the incident occurred. He ran to the visitor information center at Miners Castle to report the incident to park staff. Personnel from the park, the Alger County Sheriff's Department, the Michigan State Police, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources extricated Richardson from a rock ledge near Lake Superior. She was transported by Alger County Ambulance to Munising Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The investigation is continuing.

A visitor from Michigan slipped and fell to her death north of the Tower Fall area around 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. The 52-year-old woman, her husband, and their two children had stopped at an overlook along the road about three-quarters of a mile north of the Tower Fall area. The woman stepped over a small rock retaining wall to take a photo, lost her footing, slipped down an embankment, then went over a cliff. She fell about 500 feet, coming to rest near the Yellowstone River. The woman’s husband flagged down a passing motorist, who called 911 for help. Responding rangers could see the woman through a spotting scope lying immobile on the canyon floor. High, fast-moving water prevented rescuers from reaching the woman by raft, so a ranger rappelled down the canyon wall to reach the woman. She was declared dead at the scene. Her body was then placed in a litter suspended by cable from a helicopter and flown out of the area on Saturday afternoon.

On the afternoon of June 8th, rangers and members of the Mesa County technical rescue team recovered a body near a wrecked vehicle approximately 200 feet below Rim Rock Drive in Red Canyon. The suicide most likely occurred on May 18th. On that day, rangers received notice that a 49-year-old Grand Junction man was threatening to drive off a cliff near Cold Shivers Point. An immediate search was conducted in the Cold Shivers Point area and along Rim Rock Drive, but rangers found no signs of a vehicle going over the edge. On the morning of June 8th, a park volunteer was picking up litter near Rim Rock Drive when he noticed a white vehicle in Red Canyon. Rangers, Mesa County Sheriff’s Office deputies, and the Colorado State Patrol officers are investigating.