Man Swept Over Vernal Falls - Yosemite

“YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
S.F. man, 24, swept over 317-foot Vernal Fall
Victim slipped into swift Merced River before fatal drop
- Chronicle Staff Report
Tuesday, August 2, 2005


Yosemite National Park -- Park rangers and rescue crews searched the Merced River in Yosemite Valley all day Monday for the body of Chintan Chokshi, a 24-year-old resident of San Francisco who was swept to his death over Vernal Fall on Saturday.

According to Ranger Adrianne Freeman, Chokshi went behind a barrier at the top of the falls to get near the river, apparently with the idea of cooling off in the icy river water. But he slipped and was swept away over the fall, which drops over a cliff 317 feet high.

The river was running swift and cold due to late runoff from a high snowpack in the Sierra. Authorities listed Chokshi as presumed dead.

Freeman said that bodies of persons swept over the falls are sometimes never recovered. The incident was the first fatal accident involving waterfalls or swift streams in Yosemite this year, though there have been several close calls, Freeman said.

"It was just a terrible accident,'' she said.

In recent years, she said, three or four people have been swept over Vernal or nearby Nevada falls to their deaths.

The walk up from Yosemite Valley to the top of Vernal Fall via the Mist Trail is one of the most popular in the park and is taken by thousands of people a year.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/02/BAG2EE1DQT1.DTL”

“OOPS”

“Gee, I wonder if he realized the barrier was there for a reason.”

“Hell of a ride down!”

“Hey
"When you're hot you're hot, when you're not you're not!' The poor sap was trying to cool his "dogs". It was all perfectly logical in his mind. Still I wonder what he was thinking as he went over the edge? What's your best guess?

My guess is: "Man, I coulda had a V8!"
last edited: 8/03/05 11:18:31 AM”

“My guess is "Oh, that sign did mean me!"”

“purest form of natural selection.”

“If he went head first the last thing to go through his mind musta been his ass.”

“that sums it up phils son.”

“People do that in Yellowstone too; go beyond a well-marked barrier. A guy went beyond the barrier in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone one winter and slipped on ice, plunging into the canyon a few years ago. Same with the hot thermal pools ("Warning: Do Not Step Off Boardwalk!)

The park Service usually gets sued.”

“There are some falls near me that are 265 feet and some kid went over and survived. It was amazing.”

“That kid has used up all his luck. He better become a hermit.”

“Some people don't think signs and/or instructions are for them. I know a few of them.”

“I have to admit I like to take a stab at something before I look at the instructions, but I do pay attention to warning signs and barricades.”

“I hear of Yosemite accidents happening but the ol' "I got swept over a waterfall" has to take the cake. LOL @ Bitpusher....my thoughts exactly!

One of the most common accidents is people from Europe vacationing and forgetting where they'er at and driving on the wrong side of the road. I have seen this.”

“At the same waterfall I mentioned, I've gone past the guard rail to sit on a rock near the river above the falls. But I inch out on my butt and sit a couple of feet from the water. I'm a scaredy cat actually.”

“Naughty pixie!”

“I remember cooling my feet off in the river near Vernal Falls after hiking a few miles on the rim trail, but my butt was on terra firma. Isn't there a bridge very close to the falls?”

“There's a bridge between Nevada and Vernal Falls. Although it's always obviously dangerous to hang around the tops of falls, later in the season the creek is slow and pooled up. But when it's high like it is now I wouldn't mess around anywhere near there behind the railing. The guy did a stupid thing but we all do stupid things, but there's times when doing stupid things aren't very forgiving. I feel very sad for him, his family, and those who witnessed such an awful thing. I was climbing Mt. Shasta last weekend and I saw a guy slide over 1,000' starting from up near Redbanks on the Avalanche Gulch. I thought he was dead when I got down to him but somehow he survived, really bloody and banged up and he needed a helicopter rescue, but he was alive. It's horrible just witnessing these kinds of accidents.”

“When I was there in March the Mist Falls Trail was closed due to icy slippery conditions and there were tons of people going around the barriers. Barriers don't mean anything to most people, unfortunately. Now a story posted about somebody going over the falls and a picture or two of recovering the body... now that just may stop people. The people who stop to read it, anyway.”

“What about all those shmucks that die every year at the Grand Canyon trying to get a better picture?”

“So that's why the Grand Canyon have this reddish hue.....”

“Bearcrossing - I gotta confess that in March, I was one of those crazy fools that went around the barrier and hiked on up the Mist Trail. Yes, I'll admit, a crazy thing to do. I did, however, stop the group from trying to climb up the part where the rail goes along the side of the mountain kinda under the falls. Thankfully, we all got back safely. My friends and I all exchanged this story and it truly makes you stop and think. Unfortunately,I know the area up around the Emerald Pool and the Silver Apron where he probably went in, and I'll tell you, those barriers will never be breached by me....even before I read this.”

“In Wa state, up at Nooksack Falls is a permanent plaque with the names of all the sad people who have died there. It sits right in the middle of the trail, at the start.
What is scary is to get close to the falls you either have to climb a chain link fence and scamper onto moss covered slime rocks...or not hike the trail, and walk the road and road bridge over the river, and wander the other side in the woods-where every other tree seems to have a "DANGER!" sign. Yet, I have seen old men over there...sigh!
And those falls pound when it has been raining/snow meltoff :-(”

“Darwin is at work "thinning the herd". I feel badly for his family & loved ones of course, but I can't view something like this as an "accident". He gambled & paid the price. The positive aspect to stories like these is that we can hope others will actually learn that barriers, fences, etc. are there for a reason. Let's hope his death will spur others to pay attention.”