A popular climber has fallen to his death from Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, marking the third death in the park this summer.
Balin Miller, 23, from Alaska, was on TikTok live when he fell to his death on Wednesday, his mum Jeanine Girard-Moorman confirmed.
‘He’s been climbing since he was a young boy,’ she said.
‘His heart and soul was truly to just climb. He loved to climb, and it was never about money and fame.’
Shocked fans who were watching his TikTok live stream have shared their condolences after his sudden death.
One fan, who said he had been watching Miller’s journey up El Capitan, said: ‘He made it to the summit, but he had to retrieve his bags as they got stuck on a rock as he was hoisting them up.
‘As he was trying to retrieve the bags, he fell to his death, all caught on the livestream.’
The death came on the first day of the federal government shutdown, which left national parks ‘generally’ open, with limited operations and closed visitor centres, according to the National Park Service.
The NPS said in a statement that park rangers and emergency personnel responded immediately, and Miller’s death is being investigated.
Visitors have been urged by conservationists to stay away from the National Parks during the government shutdown.
The National Parks Conservation Association, which oversees more than 400 sites, said the low levels of staffing mean communication is lacking.
Kristen Brengel, the NPCA’s senior vice-president of governmental affairs, said: ‘The park service doesn’t have communication staff to help them inform the public, so you’re really walking into a situation not knowing what facilities are going to be available to you.
‘We wouldn’t recommend going into them over the weekend… you’re really taking your chances going in with a limited staff that are going to be there.’
The US government was shut down on Wednesday, and President Donald Trump already weaponised it as a chance to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors.
He announced the meeting on social media that many Democrat Agencies would be cut, continuing their efforts to slash federal spending by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting ‘irreversible’ cuts to Democratic priorities.
Trump claims the government shutdown is the Democrats’ fault, despite an overwhelming Republican majority in government.
Meanwhile, the White House is preparing for mass firings of federal workers, rather than simply furloughing them as is the usual practice during a shutdown.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this week that lay-offs were ‘imminent’.