An Arizona woman fell to her death Thursday while hiking the granite peaks of Yosemite National Park's Half Dome, park officials said.
Danielle Burnette, 29, of Lake Havasu City, fell more than 500 feet after slipping on the steepest part of the popular trail, the Visalia Times-Delta reported.
“She fell over 500 feet down steep, rocky terrain and was deceased when park rangers arrived on the scene,” park spokesman Scott Gediman said in a statement. “The incident remains under investigation.”
Summit cables have been put up every summer since 1919 at Half Dome to allow climbers to reach the top of the 8,842-foot granite dome, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Thousands of climbers scale the granite rock as part of the 16-mile round trip, the newspaper reported.
It is not clear what caused the fall, park officials said. The incident remains under investigation.
Half Dome was designated a wilderness area in 1964, the Chronicle reported.
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