Mountaineer, 23, dies in plunge on Yosemite summit

A popular and promising young mountaineer fell to his death on Yosemite's El Capitan on Wednesday, a tragedy that was reportedly livestreamed on social media.

- BY JACK DOLAN

JEANINE GIRARD-MOORMAN BALIN Miller died on the Sea of Dreams route.

Balin Miller, 23, of Anchorage had already reached the top of the 3,000-foot granite wall — among the most famous and challenging rock climbs in the world — when a gear bag he was hauling behind him got stuck, according to a Facebook post by well-known Yosemite photographer Tom Evans, who said he witnessed the accident.

So Miller, still attached to his rope, went back down to fix the problem, Evans said.

“His rope didn’t reach the bag’s location by many feet, but he seemed unaware of that fact,” Evans wrote. “On the way down he rappelled off the end of the rope.”