In Yosemite National Park in California, on July 13, 20-year-old Grace Rohloff, a student at Arizona, went hiking with her father, Jonathan Rohloff.
Sadly, Jonathan lost someone during the 16-mile hike, and he has since spoken out about the experience to caution others who may be considering the same climb.
The sky was clear, Jonathan remembered, and even though a ranger had warned them earlier in the day that a storm was approaching, they went ahead and reached the summit.
Yet as the weather changed and a strong storm with thunder and rain arrived at the park, that’s when the ranger’s warning became apparent.
Jonathan told SFGate: “A black cloud was rolling in like gangbusters.”
“I was like, ‘We have got to get down now, because we don’t want to be up here with any rain’.”
“It rolled in literally out of nowhere.”
They kept walking down, but this is when the tragic incident happened and Grace told her father something that could haunt him for the rest of his life.
He remembered that Grace had commented that her shoes felt “slippery,” but he encouraged her by telling her to take things “one step at a time.”
Jonathan said: “She just slid off to the side, right by me, down the mountain.”
“I tried to reach my hand up, but she was already gone.”
Jonathan hurriedly attempted to get down the Dome without thinking, but tragically, it was too steep.
