YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — One person was killed Wednesday and another injured in a rock fall on the granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, an official said.
Rocks came crashing down at the height of climbing season with at least 30 climbers on the wall, ranger Scott Gediman said.
The injured person was taken to a hospital near the park. No names were immediately released.
El Capitan is one of the world’s largest granite monoliths towering vertically 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) from the Yosemite Valley floor.
“It’s the heart of climbing season,” Gediman said. “It was witnessed by a lot of people.”
Several people made emergency calls, reporting the rock fall from the Waterfall route on the east buttress of El Capitan.
Mountaineers from around the world travel to the park in the Sierra Nevada to scale El Capitan’s sheer face.
Fall is one of the peak seasons for climbing because the days are long and the weather is warm.
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