Terrifying Details Emerge From Hikers Tragic Death on Half Dome

The tragic death of 29-year-old hiker Danielle Burnett sent shockwaves through Yosemite National Park, as the famed hike to the top of Half Dome remains dangerous even following the installation of the trail’s cables.

Burnett fell 500 feet from the steep slope of Half Dome, where cables were installed to make the hike safe. Now, a witness has detailed the scenario as a warning for anyone thinking of making the hike.

Shawn Slimp posted photos of the day on Half Dome on Facebook, and when people asked questions, he gave his full account of the scenario surrounding the tragic fall:

The girl wasn’t on the outside of the cables. She was at least 30’ above us. We heard a commotion, she was starting to freak out. It had started to lightly sprinkle. She had decided to turn around before making it to the top, her group of 3-4 continued on. I saw her shoes slipping on the rock. It wasn’t that wet yet but maybe she had a poorly chosen pair of shoes. Regardless, I watched as her shoes slipped on the rock, she fell hard and lost her grip on cable. Someone had said she was even using a carabiner but it obviously wasn’t clipped in at that moment. She started sliding down and to the right of the cables. My friend got down on her stomach to try and grab her….she went by her and I stretched out and tried to reach for her with my right hand but by now she was probably 10’ to the right of the cables and too far for me also. She slid past screaming and she went over an edge. She fell about 500’ and you could see her from the top of sub dome. Everyone was evacuated from the cables and subdome so the helicopter could fly in.

When Park Rangers arrived on the scene to find Burnett, she was already deceased.

The thrilling hike to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park is a world-famous adventure. In fact, it’s become too famous, with crowds jamming up the cable-laden rock wall for visitors to get a beautiful 360 degree view of the park.

Rising nearly 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley and 8,800 feet above sea level, Half Dome is a Yosemite National Park icon and a great challenge to many hikers. Despite an 1865 report declaring that it was “perfectly inaccessible, being probably the only one of the prominent points about the Yosemite which never has been, and never will be, trodden by human foot,” George Anderson reached the summit in 1875, in the process laying the predecessor to today’s cable route.

Rising nearly 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley and 8,800 feet above sea level, Half Dome is a Yosemite National Park icon and a great challenge to many hikers. Despite an 1865 report declaring that it was “perfectly inaccessible, being probably the only one of the prominent points about the Yosemite which never has been, and never will be, trodden by human foot,” George Anderson reached the summit in 1875, in the process laying the predecessor to today’s cable route.

Today, thousands of people reach the summit. For most, it is an exciting, arduous hike; for a few, it becomes more of an adventure than they wanted.