Fatality at Yonah

Fatality today. Not sure yet from which user group...anybody heard anything?

CLEVELAND - One person died Sunday afternoon after a fall on Yonah Mountain in White County.

The call was dispatched during the 2 p.m. hour with the fatality confirmed after 5 p.m.

White County Public Safety Director David Murphy said a 40-year-old male, who was on an outing with his family, fell about 100 feet from the face of the mountain.

The victim was pronounced dead on scene.

About 15-20 White County, Helen and Cleveland emergency personnel were involved in the operation, along with a Department of Natural Resources
helicopter.

The man's name and city of residence are being withheld pending notification of relatives.

This is terrible.

Condolences to his family...never something anybody wants to hear.

Condolences to his family and friends.

As a side note, this one reason why you shouldn't camp on the helipad

I've split off this unfortunate incident to a separate thread from the original Problems at Yonah thread.

JL

I have it on good authority (wife of a White County sheriff) that dude split from his family, instead of hiking around to the top, and attempted to free solo the face and fell from near the top. Was alive, but combative, when first responders arrived...refusing treatment...and died on scene. His family witnessed the whole thing. Bad, bad situation.

whitecountynews.net/view/fu…

I knew the guy, the reports say his name was John but he was known as Woody, he wasn't a climber, just a good guy who loved hiking with his family. Tragic & weird though, really caught me off guard. It's REALLY unlike him to be reckless. Does anyone know an approximate wall, route or flank he was by when he fell?

The above report is a little off; He had 3 kids but he was only with his wife and youngest son. Bad deal.

Sent you a PM Adam.

Has anyone seen the marker under a good size rock that has 2 stones underneath that say the birth date as 2002 and death date as 2004? I was there today and someone had put new flowers under the rock and someone has been writing letters then burning them. I have photos of it and one stone says “please forgive me”. Kinda sad and creepy. 

Jason Ford wrote:

Has anyone seen the marker under a good size rock that has 2 stones underneath that say the birth date as 2002 and death date as 2004? I was there today and someone had put new flowers under the rock and someone has been writing letters then burning them. I have photos of it and one stone says “please forgive me”. Kinda sad and creepy. 

I was just there- didn't see it tho. From my understanding, there's lots of tragic falls there- few from climbers. "Please forgive me" that is creepy!

Jason Ford wrote:

Has anyone seen the marker under a good size rock that has 2 stones underneath that say the birth date as 2002 and death date as 2004? I was there today and someone had put new flowers under the rock and someone has been writing letters then burning them. I have photos of it and one stone says “please forgive me”. Kinda sad and creepy. 

hmmm ...h8 to think it, but makes one wonder about missing children from the area at the time?

Kyle Taylor and BigB

I found out who it is/was. He was from Grapevine,Texas and was very sick. Had been in a children’s hospital for sometime and passed away there. His mother flew from Texas to check into rehab (alcohol) at Black Bear and they took them up to Yonah to hike a couple of times. She made the little memorial to her son there, reason unknown. Basically it was her apologizing for her actions before/after the child’s death. That’s the only connection the family has to Yonah Mountain. I actually spoke to the little boys sister about it and she said that this has torn the family apart...mainly because of the mothers alcohol abuse. Such a tragic story no matter which way you look at it. I asked the sister if I could continue to place fresh flowers there and she said that her family would greatly appreciate it and the mother, who is in full recovery now, even said thank you!  

Jason Ford wrote:

Kyle Taylor and BigB

I found out who it is/was. He was from Grapevine,Texas and was very sick. Had been in a children’s hospital for sometime and passed away there. His mother flew from Texas to check into rehab (alcohol) at Black Bear and they took them up to Yonah to hike a couple of times. She made the little memorial to her son there, reason unknown. Basically it was her apologizing for her actions before/after the child’s death. That’s the only connection the family has to Yonah Mountain. I actually spoke to the little boys sister about it and she said that this has torn the family apart...mainly because of the mothers alcohol abuse. Such a tragic story no matter which way you look at it. I asked the sister if I could continue to place fresh flowers there and she said that her family would greatly appreciate it and the mother, who is in full recovery now, even said thank you!  

Goodness. Heart wrenching!

J thx for the update! Sad story....addiction hurts so many

Anyone know why crime scene tape was up at Yonah??? Someone on Instagram was asking atlantatrails.com about it but nobody seems to know. Haven’t seen anything online either