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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) – Two skiers rode a thin layer of snow with no margin for error on the steep shoulder of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park and alternately skied and rappelled down the valley in an unusually daring feat.
Jason Torlano, 45, and Zach Milligan, 40, completed the descent in five hours on Sunday, carefully weaving through the crusty snow and using ropes to recall several sections of bare rock known as the ‘flagstones of the death ”under the iconic face of Half Dome, reported the Fresno Bee Thursday.
“If you fall to the left or to the right, you’re definitely dead,” said JT Holmes, a free professional skier who is a friend of Torlano. “If you fall in the middle, you have a small chance of not dying – but maybe it is.
Snowboarder Jim Zellers is believed to have been the first to descend the upper 800-foot (243-meter) section over the shoulder of the dome in 2000. But no one is known to have attempted the entire 4,800-foot (1463) descent. meters). from one summit to another.
Torlano said he has dreamed of skiing the dome since his family moved to Yosemite when he was 5 years old.
He first scaled the Half Dome when he was young, clinging to the same cables that tens of thousands of visitors each year climb the final steep slope on the rounded side of the polished granite feature. He stepped forward to be part of an elite group of climbers to climb the granite face using ropes only to catch his fall at least a dozen times. He then became a ranger in the park.
“He’s always been there,” Torlano told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve been drawn to Half Dome for as long as I can remember.”
After also serving a stint in the US Army, he settled with his wife and children in a community near Yosemite. He specializes in using ropes to work in high altitude and hazardous environments.
He said he had tried skiing Half Dome each of the past three years, but canceled it after finding unsuitable snow. This year, a storm in early February filled Yosemite with fresh powder, including about 2 to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of snow atop Half Dome.
He hired a friend’s small plane on February 19 to study the snow conditions and possible route before calling Milligan, a climbing buddy, to join him.
Milligan said he originally planned to film only Torlano’s skiing, but decided to make his own descent by carefully sliding the skis. He said things quickly got dangerous when he skied on part of one of the cables and lost control before using an ice ax to stop his slide and be able to straighten up.
“I was just trying to stay in control and stay alive,” Milligan said. “You are on this spine and you don’t have much room for error.”
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