Heartbroken Father Speaks Out After Daughter Dies During Their Hike in Yosemite

A father is speaking out after his daughter died while hiking up the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Every year hundreds of visitors head to the summit of the iconic rock formation. The final leg of the ascent presents the most danger. Visitors must hold onto cables during the last part of the climb with nothing to protect them from falling.

Grace Rohloff, 20, had logged more than 1,000 miles of hiking with her father, Jonathan Rohloff, when they hiked to the Half Dome.

He says Grace had checked the forecast .

"It was supposed to be 65 and cloudy all day so no rain in the forecast, it looked like we were going to have a beautiful day to get up to the top of Half Dome,'" Jonathan says.

The father-daughter duo had made it to the top when a storm suddenly appeared.

"I did hear just a loud boom coming from behind me and I look behind me and I saw some dark rain clouds coming in and we just knew the danger, so I was like, 'Alright, Grace, we gotta get down. Let's get down, let's grab our stuff and let's get down now,'" Jonathan says.

It began to pour rain during their descent.

"It just happened in the blink of the eye that she just, she slid down the side, and it was a traumatic thing to experience," Jonathan says. "I could see her the whole time and I was like, 'Grace, I'm here. I'm not going to leave you. Someone's coming to get you, stay with me. If you can hear my voice let me know and I'm here with you. I'm not gonna leave you.'"

Grace lost her footing and slide 250 feet down the mountain. She did not survive the fall.

As Jonathan mourns his daughter, he says he will work to make Half Dome a safer adventure.

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