Joshua Nair
A father has recalled his daughter's chilling last words before she 'slid off' a mountain and fell to her death during a hiking trip.
Grace Rohloff, a 20-year-old college student in Arizona, US, went on a 16-mile hike with her dad Jonathan Rohloff to Yosemite National Park's colossal rock formation, known as Half Dome, on 13 July, according to SFGate.
The pair comfortably ascended 400 feet up the formation with help from cables on the trail, before enjoying the breathtaking views at the peak.
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But they suddenly encountered several dark storm clouds as they made their way back down.
The sight of it worried Jonathan, who suggested that they get down because getting stuck at the top of the rock while rain poured in wasn't ideal.
Arizona State University student Grace had some new hiking footwear on for the journey, but as the rain kept coming down, she realised a problem as she was just three quarters of the way down the gigantic 4,800 foot rock formation.
The father and daughter had to halt their descent momentarily as they chose not to overtake some less experiences hikers who were also trying to get to the bottom.
Prior to Jonathan trying to calm his daughter down by telling her to take it 'one step at a time', Grace uttered her final words to her father.
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“Dad, my shoes are so slippery,” Jonathan remembers her saying.
Shortly after his advice, Grace lost her footing and slid past her shocked and terrified father.
“She just slid off to the side, right by me, down the mountain," the devastated father recalled. “It happened so fast. I tried to reach my hand up, but she was already gone."
Jonathan says that his daughter fell about 200-300 feet down, suggesting that she hit her head on the rock on her way down.
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Sadly, he couldn't reach his daughter due to the steepness of the mountain, and he had to rely on a different hiker to call for help.
He also didn't lose hope that she was alive, with him shouting down: “I’m here. I’m not going to leave you. If you can hear my voice, give me a sign. I love you.”
Jonathan revealed that he began to pray with other hikers as they waited for authorities to arrive - which took three hours.
A rescue helicopter managed to locate the student, but found that she did not survive the fall, with the Mariposa County coroner's office discovering that Grace had died from a head fracture.
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Her father was relieved to hear that she had died during the fall as opposed to afterwards, explaining: “If she was gone, that she didn’t have to suffer.”
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the 20-year-old was studying to become a teacher, while working two jobs on the side. She was also an experienced hiker, covering big journeys such as Angel's Landing at Zion National Park.
The World Travel Guy details that at least 15 people have died on the cables and top of Half Dome since 1948.
Permits are required to ascend the Half Dome, though officials tell adrenaline junkies not to climb while storm clouds are visible or the ground is wet.
Jonathan wants to put more safety measures in place for the 'unnecessarily dangerous' climb, saying to SFGate: “It’s not going to bring my daughter back, but I would like to strongly advocate for a safer way to get to the top of Half Dome.”