

Rescue personnel getting patient ready for transport in Bridalveil Fall boulder field in 2013. NPS file photo



“My foot caught, I started sliding and then tumbling down the rock, and then I fell over the edge...I just thought I might die” -- past Bridalveil Fall patient

August 3, 2019 - Yosemite National Parks officials report this week in Yosemite, there have been three significant incidents, including a fatality, at the base of waterfalls in Yosemite Valley.



(Left) Rescue personnel transporting a patient on a litter from Lower Yosemite Fall boulder field. NPS photo

Two incidents occurred at the base of Bridalveil Fall, the first on Monday, July 29, and the second on Wednesday, July 31. In both cases, the subjects hiked to the viewing platform below Bridalveil Fall and then left the established trail to scramble up the boulder field toward the base of the waterfall, bypassing signs that advise against leaving the trail. According to witnesses in both cases, the subjects slipped off wet boulders and took 20-foot falls near the base of Bridalveil Fall. Responding to 9-1-1 calls for help, rescuers donned climbing helmets and approach shoes with sticky rubber soles, scrambled up through the dangerous terrain to the subjects, and provided advanced life support medical care. Yosemite Helitack, using the park helicopter (H-551), extracted the subjects by short-haul and flew them to El Capitan Meadow, where they were transferred to ambulances.