Climber falls and dies at Yosemite after proposing

Saw this in the news this morning. Condolences to friends and family.

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2…

The comments from the general public on that link are simply awful.

Tragic accident. Condolences to all affected.

I wrote the digital editor.. I hope the family doens't come across that.

My condolences...

While I have always felt that soloing is a bad idea, it is a personal choice & nobody "deserves" to die because they make what is (in my opinion) a bad decision.

A human being lost his life. His fiance and family lost someone they loved. This is tragic and I find the posts on the news site disturbing, callous and cruel. Even if people don't "get" climbing, or free soloing, they should be able to understand how sad it is when a healthy 36 yr old dies suddenly & keep their mean spirited comments to themselves. Just my opinion.

Thanks for the links, Matt. Much better coverage in the Press Democrat, and perhaps unsurprisingly, on SuperTopo.

I didn't know Brad, but a climber's death still resonates especially strongly when it happens on a route that I've been on, or in a place that I've spent a lot of. With deaths this year in Pinnacles and Tahquitz, each seems to be more and more difficult to accept.

Be safe out there, everyone.

Yea those are some real douchebags on that website they should shut off the comments. My condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.

Comments make me sick on the local news write-up. Agree with Jack, they should pull the comments off the site.

Absolutely tragic. Sincerest condolences to friends, family, and the fiance.

Be safe.

At least the comments in the DM are a little more positive.

dailymail.co.uk/news/articl…

This is one of the reasons I brought this link here. I thought someone here may have known Brad or his family and could let them know that the climbing community is sympathetic.

If family or friends do stumble across this thread at least they know not all humans are such jerks.

Thanks all!

No one can build their happiness from others unhappiness." Tolstoy
You hope that people see the ugliness of this kind of callousness and make it a point to be the opposite example where ever they can. I've seen people mock the dead and people who have befallen tragedies only to find out that their loved one has cancer, and those words just don't sound as clever then.

My condolences

Morgan Patterson wrote:I wrote the digital editor.. I hope the family doens't come across that. My condolences...

Eric "Pig" Varley wrote:The comments from the general public on that link are simply awful. ...

I spoke to Brandon the director of digital content. They are working to figure out a solution. They can not remove comments from one article alone... only site wide. They are considering remove the article all together. I said they must.

It appears that the comments section has been pulled. Thank you Big Feet for bringing it to our attention, and to Morgan for getting it taken care of.

Thank you again Morgan for notifying the Editor.

-Mac

What a sad story all around . I'm sure several of us here have soloed that route ... when I soloed it years back I remember the North section being a little tougher and more exposed than the south . Just pure conjecture but you have to figure a hold or knob or something broke for him. From all accounts he was a very safe and strong climber .... it's just weird that many hands or feet can pass over the same hold and then one day the hold gives out ...