Enormous El Capitan rockfall leaves one dead and one injured in Yosemite

Huge rockfall on El Capitan has killed one person and injured another, according to Yosemite National Park officials. At present the name of the victim has not been released, and it is unknown whether the victim is a climber or a tourist. The rockfall occurred on Wednesday afternoon just before 2.00 pm on the east side of the granite monolith, directly above the Waterfall Route and therefore close to the waterfall Horsetail Fall. The rockfall is estimated to be at least the size of an appartment. After the fist fall a series of smaller falls ocurred, at least three, and currently the Rangers are on scene assessing the situation. In 2010 rockfall occurred on the same portion of the wall, fortunately without injuring anyone.

At leat 30 climbers were on El Capitan at the time of the rockfall, including 58-year-old El Capitan veteran Peter Zabrok who was above the rockfall at the time of the release.

He posted the following on Facebook immediately after the accident "A 100 foot by 100 foot piece of El Cap just fell off directly above WaterFall Route. We are past it and we are safe. Had we been underneath it we would have died for sure. Unfortunately I believe they were two or three people at the base who may have been hit. My sincere condolences to all and I pray for the safety of those on the ground.. But we are safe. I give thanks to God and my Saviour Jesus Christ.
A first responder was just helicoptered in. There have been three subsequent enormous rock falls and this rescuer is in tremendous peril.
I just happened to be tagging up some gear at the precise moment the rock fell. It was as big as an apartment building."

Yosemite and in particular El Capitan is currently gearing up for the autumn climbing season and hundreds of climbers from all over the world are expected to reach the valley shortly.

Large rockfall off the East Buttress of El Cap in Yosemite. I heard and saw it from Glacier Point at 1:51-1:52pm pic.twitter.com/youAujh3pA

— Jon Kameen (@JonKameen) September 28, 2017