Grace Rohloff was an athlete who navigated dangerously narrow trails to Angels Landing in Zion National Park, hiked through the Grand Canyon, and traversed mountains in Sedona. Her father, Jonathan Rohloff, was often by her side.

Half Dome in Yosemite National Park was on their wish list.

Rohloff was thrilled once they received approval from the National Park Lottery System for her and her father to make the 25-kilometer hike to the summit on July 13. But what was planned as a fun adventure took a disastrous turn when she lost her footing on the rope system that leads from the trail to the summit and fell about 60 meters down the mountain.

Officials told her father that she probably died immediately.

“She lived every moment of her life to the fullest,” said Jonathan Rohloff. “People called her Superwoman and that's exactly what she was. She was incredible and when she set her mind to something, there was no one to tell her not to do it or stop her from doing it.”

The death of the 20-year-old, first reported by SFGATE, has raised renewed concerns in regards to the safety of hikes up Half Dome, where at the very least 10 people have died within the last decade. The majority of those deaths occurred when hikers navigated the cables. In many cases the steep granite surface was slippery after people fell within the rain.

Jonathan Rohloff is pushing for safety improvements to the cables that he believes could have saved his daughter's life.

The current rope system consists of wood planks roughly every three meters. Between these planks, hikers must cross smooth granite, which might turn out to be slippery if there may be somewhat moisture. Jonathan Rohloff described it as “smooth like a countertop.” Metal cables run between masts anchored within the rock.

Jonathan Rohloff said the cable system might be rebuilt right into a variety of suspension bridge, with the wood planks spaced 6 or 12 inches apart to present hikers a surface to step on somewhat than smooth rock. A second set of cables and harnesses could provide one other layer of protection, he said.

“Until you get there, you don't realize how steep it is and how much more dangerous the ropes are than some other places we've hiked,” he said. “It just seems unnecessarily dangerous. … I've done so many hikes in so many places, and here it seems like they could just put more reinforcements in.”

Considered one of the vital dangerous trails within the country, the Angels Landing trail in Utah features steps set into the rocks and higher wiring, he said.

Yosemite National Park officials didn’t reply to a call searching for comment this week.

Given Half Dome's incredibly steep topography and slippery climbing surface, the climb was considered not possible for years, says Michael Ghiglieri, co-author of “Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite,” a book chronicling the history of deaths within the national park.

In 1919, the Sierra Club installed the primary ropes along the 400-foot final climb in order that visitors without climbing experience could reach the summit. The ropes were replaced within the Nineteen Eighties, and in 2012 the ropes and trail were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Ghiglieri said the climb to the summit might be dangerous and he feared the ropes gave people a false sense of security.

Vickie Mates, a former park ranger in Yosemite National Park, recognizes the risks in a video on the National Park website especially in regards to the hike up Half Dome. The ropes, that are in use from late May to early October, are “not for people with poor fitness or weak nerves,” she said.

“They are vertical, unprotected and surprisingly much harder to get down than up,” she said. “It is extremely dangerous to use the cables during storms, even when there is only light rain.”

Jonathan Rohloff said that despite the challenges of the hike, he never imagined his daughter would lose her life on Half Dome. She was an athlete who played club basketball in highschool, was a sprinter and competed in shot put and discus on the track team. She set the college record within the javelin, he said.

Grace Rohloff had seemingly countless energy and needed to juggle an extended class load at Arizona State University so she could graduate early and turn out to be a math teacher. She worked as a nurse's aide for a lady with Down syndrome throughout the day and as a barista at Dutch Bros. at night, her father said.

In her free time, he said, she was all the time outside.

She recently hiked the Grand Canyon alone in only a couple of hours because she had a time without work in the course of the week, and accomplished the trip by Angel's Landing within the snow, her father said.

The Rohloffs had reached the summit of Half Dome within the early afternoon and were having fun with the breathtaking views of Yosemite Valley once they heard the thunder. When dark clouds began to roll in, they knew that they had to get off the rock quickly, he said. Lightning strikes aren’t unusual during storms on Half Dome.

But the narrow ropes were full of people also trying to depart the location. As they descended the rock, Grace Rohloff's shoes began to slide. She was wearing mountain climbing boots that ought to have provided good grip, however the granite was slippery, her father said.

“Dad, it's really slippery,” Jonathan Rohloff remembers his daughter saying. The young woman was very brave by nature, but he noticed that she was getting nervous.

“I told her, let's take it section by section. Let's do it together. I'm here with you,” he said.

About three-quarters of the best way along the ropes, Grace Rohloff lost her footing and slid down the mountain. He waited with a park ranger for about three hours until search and rescue could reach his daughter.

He shouted to her that he wasn't going and that folks were on their method to help her. She just needed to hold on. He shouted that he loved her.

Some hikers stopped and asked if they might pray with him.

“What happened to Grace doesn't have to happen to anyone else,” he said. “You can put a system on the cables to make them much safer. Grace would want that.”

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©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit www.latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Originally published: July 26, 2024 at 11:19 am

The currently tense situation of President Joe Bidenwhich showcases each his weakness and his determination, is dramatic since it touches on greater than just the political moment and the character of a single man.

After his his disastrous performance in the controversy sparked calls for his resignation As a Democratic presidential candidate, Biden’s position is just not only inextricably linked to problems with temperament and family dynamics. There can also be the challenge of constructing a key decision quickly at a moment when no decision is simple or clearly correct.

And that's not all. Biden has turn into a logo of each the biological challenges and the existential implications of aging – aging in power, definitely, but in addition simply the inexorable wear and tear of growing older.

The pressure of all these aspects makes Biden a tragic figure.

Others hesitate to step down

While seeing this eye-opening moment in the sunshine of the past doesn't make life in the current any easier, it does broaden perspective. Biden is way from the primary person ready of power to hesitate to step down – even when common sense or sheer fatigue might dictate otherwise. In recent history, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is commonly cited as an unlucky example, and there are numerous other figures historians can cite.

Literature has all the time been about not only people in power, but in addition the life cycle and complexity of family relationships. Myths remain fresh and timeless; as we get older, our understanding of a myth can change.

As poet Eavan Boland writes:The pomegranate:”

“And the most effective thing in regards to the legend is
I can enter it anywhere. And that's what I did.”

The huge cohort of ageing baby boomersof which I’m one, probably sympathizes with Biden, because he has turn into a logo of the vulnerability of aging – the vulnerability to humiliation and, more subtly, to isolation.

Age “is no protection from suffering”

Greek poets like Homer and Sophocles represent age realistically.

In Homer’s “Iliad”, says old Nestor, who reminisces endlessly. Although he’s listened to with respect, he’s a figure from a previous generation whose role within the war has shrunk to that of an advisor.

Priam, the aged king of Troy, is heartbroken after the death of his son Hector. Yet he finds the energy to berate his surviving sons as they clumsily harness the mules that may pull the cart laden with ransom in order that Priam should purchase his dead son's body. by the warrior who killed him, Achilles.

The following moment of realization The story between Priam and Achilles is some of the poignant in literature, not least since the sight of old Priam reminds Achilles of his own aged father. One might expect Achilles to be indignant, but when he sees Priam, his anger turns to grief. Achilles knows he won’t ever see his father Peleus again. Being old isn’t any excuse for suffering; the aged Priam, mourning the lack of his son Hector, is struck by the identical desolate grief as Achilles.

In Shakespeare's “Henry IV,” the once cheerful and resilient Falstaff, publicly rejected and insulted by Prince Halis old, vulnerable – and alone. Macbeth, widowed and isolated, seems to have aged many years over the course of the play; he thinks desperately of the comforts that old age could offer: “Honor, love, obedience, hosts of friends.”

King Lear opens the tragedy named after him by seemingly withdrawing. He proclaims his “intention/To shake off all the cares and affairs of our time,/To leave them to younger forces, while we/Crawling carefree towards death.”

But Lear refuses to offer up control. When he finally sinks into confusion, he discovers humility and compassion – too late. In prison, Lear is reunited together with his faithful daughter Cordelia, who was not afraid to talk truth to power, but who also never stopped loving him – but She is summarily executed and Lear dies inconsolably.

Decision requires “rare distance”

Political commentator Bill Maher has Age discrimination the last respectable prejudice. It is as if age and the disabilities that include it create a force field that keeps others at a distance. Or perhaps age confers a generally recognized vulnerability on individuals who once seemed powerful.

In any case, old people can seem somewhat isolated from the remainder of us.

It is difficult to assume President Biden alone; quite the opposite, he’s apparently surrounded by loyal family and consultantsBut the vulnerability of old age was clearly visible in the primary presidential debate. The news reports convey how difficult it has turn into for everybody to outside Biden's inner circle to essentially see or know him.

One of the countless contrasts between Biden and Donald Trump is Biden's sphinx-like inscrutability, especially now. With Trump, as has often been noted, what you see is what you get. Whether good or bad, his qualities are all the time on full display.

Age is traditionally related to wisdom, however the wisdom that age can bestow seems out of reach for an individual still within the thick of politics. Lear's “perfect” idiot rebukes the king: “You shouldn’t have grown old until you were wise.”

Only a withdrawal from the fighting could bring some peace. But the vision of constructing the difficult decision to withdraw requires a sort of distance that appears to be very rare in history and never common in literature either.

“The almighty time is disturbing”

Greek tragedy provides an eloquent example of such wisdom.

Sophocles' “Oedipus at Colonus” is a play about an old man, written by an old man – Sophocles was in his 90s when the drama was performed.

The aged, self-deluded and self-exiled former king Oedipus finds himself, guided by his faithful daughter, in Colonus, a sacred district outside Athens. When Theseus, the ruler of Athens, appears on the scene, Oedipus' words to him transcend each the immediate situation and the horrific backstory of Oedipus.

“The immortal
Only gods have neither old age nor death!
All other almighty things disturb the time.
The earth decays, the body decays;
Faith dies, mistrust is born.
And imperceptibly the mind changes
Between a person and his friend or between two cities…
… but time passes,
Immeasurable time, the countless
Nights, countless days….”

By addressing each the mortality that every one humans face and one other universal aspect, the inevitability of change, this speech brings a profound calm to the situation.

Oedipus knows he has come to Colonus to die, and his words convey a vision that seems to return from beyond. His detachment has an authority that seems unattainable for nearly any of us today, let alone a politician. But it is sweet to do not forget that such qualities exist.

Of course, that is a special moment. The looming juggernaut that Trump represents makes it difficult for Biden's supporters or other Democrats to stay calm. Still, it’s value reflecting on the potential strengths, but in addition the vulnerabilities, of old age.

The widespread fear currently gripping Biden's supporters is typically derided as unwarranted panic. Time, Oedipus might remind us, will tell. Personally, I find this fear touching and inspiring due to its humanity; there may be widespread compassion for Biden's vulnerability.

In the ugly spectacle of American politics, it’s difficult to maintain humanity in sight. Literature can remind us what we already learn about aging, about change, about mortality.