Two climbers fall to their deaths at Yosemite (CNN) — Two climbers fell to their deaths Saturday morning at Yosemite National Park in California, according to spokeswoman and Park Ranger Jamie Richards The climbers were on the Freeblast Route of El Capitan when they fell. The park identified the victims as Jason Wells, 46, of Boulder, Colorado and Tim Klien, 42, of Palmdale, California. “The circumstances around the fall are under investigation, and we are working to understand what happened,” Richards said. The climbers fell around 8:15 a.m. (11:15 a.m. ET), according to a news release. Park rangers along with search and rescue immediately responded after numerous 911 calls, said Richards. When they arrived at the site, they discovered the two climbers had died. Officials have not yet released the identities of the climbers. Last month, a hiker fell to his death while ascending Yosemite’s famous Half Dome trail, the National Park Service said. It was the park’s first death on the Half Dome cables since 2010 and the first visitor fatality in 2018, the park service said. CNN’s Stella Chan contributed to this report.<doc-sep>And in 2015, Tyler Gordon fell to his death while climbing the Nose. Mr. Griebel said Mr. Klein had climbed El Capitan — known as El Cap among climbers — more than 100 times. Mr. Wells had also climbed it many times, he said. “It’s safe to say they knew exactly what they were doing,” he said. Brady Robinson, the executive director of the Access Fund, an organization that seeks to protect climbing areas in the United States, said Mr. Wells was one of his best friends, and they often climbed together on routes in Boulder. El Capitan is “much bigger than anything around here, which is why he liked it,” Mr. Robinson said. “What he used to do was he would fly out on a Friday, climb El Cap twice — once on Saturday and once on Sunday.” “That is almost unheard-of,” he added. Mr. Wells was “just one of these undercover world-class athletes that almost nobody knew about.” Mr. Robinson said Mr. Wells and Mr. Klein were using a technique called simul-climbing in which both climbers are attached by a rope and move at the same time to go at a faster pace. They were doing this with a third person, a variation on an already rare technique that is “inherently riskier” than regular climbing, Mr. Robinson said. The third person, who was not identified by the National Park Service, was on a separate rope and anchor, and not securely attached to the same system being used by Mr. Wells or Mr. Klein, according to Mr. Robinson, and was unharmed.<doc-sep>YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (KGO) -- Officials say two people fell to their death while climbing the Freeblast Route on El Capitan inside Yosemite National Park.Park rangers say they received multiple 911 calls reporting the incident on Saturday around 8:15 a.m.Yosemite Park Rangers and Search and Rescue staff responded to El Capitan.The climbers were identified as 46-year-old Jason Wells of Boulder, Colorado, and 42-year-old Tim Klein of Palmdale, California.Officials say the investigation is ongoing and no further information will be released on Saturday.This fall comes after another death inside the park on May 21, when a hiker fell from the Half Dome cables while hiking with another person during a thunderstorm.<doc-sep>A pair of experienced rock climbers fell to their deaths Saturday morning while scaling a massive rock formation at Yosemite National Park in northern California, the National Park Service announced. Close friends Tim Klein, 42, and Jason Wells, 46, were climbing the Freeblast route on El Capitan (a large rock formation) around 8 a.m. when tragedy struck. A scream was heard as Klein and Wells, tethered together, fell 1,000 feet to the ground, according to Climbing.com. “They are both no longer with us,” Klein’s wife, JJ, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday, alongside a photo of the couple on their wedding day. “I know this is incredibly shocking and sad to so many of you who knew them, and it is still very surreal to the boys and I and our entire family and circle of friends. Our only comfort is Jesus right now.” JJ said that Klein and Wells fell from the rock after a haul bag from climbers above fell onto the pair. Park rangers received several 911 calls after the incident and rescue teams found the men dead at the scene, according to the NPS. As elite climbers, the men would often climb the 3,000-foot rock formation on weekends, a friend of the pair, Wayne Willoughby, told Climbing.com. Klein, of Palmdale, California, and Wells, of Boulder, Colorado, began climbing together during college in San Diego, he added. Tim Klein (left) and Jason Wells In the wake of their deaths, family and friends have shared photos and memories of the men on Facebook. “I’ve rock climbed more pitches with Jason than any other human being. His energy, laughter, and genuine passion for climbing were absolutely infectious,” Stefan Griebel wrote in a post on Saturday. “And Tim … After my last trip up El Cap with Tim, I later confided in Jason that Tim was the most Jesus-like man I’ve ever known. So true, and also such a great topic for both jokes, laughter and deeper conversations. Both of them, humble and selfless. And yet, my hurt and sadness seems insignificant to that of what their wives and families must be feeling. A horrible loss.” Story continues Another friend, Greg Murphy, shared a Facebook photo of the men roped together while climbing a rope. He wrote simply: “Damn, I’m going to miss these guys blowing past me on El Cap. Much love.” Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association, described El Capitan to the New York Times as a prime target for “serious climbers.” “People from all over the world come to climb it,” he said. Although few details have been released about the cause of the fall, Yager described the men as “very experienced” climbers. “Something weird happened. There’s no doubt in my mind,” he added.<doc-sep>
Two rock climbers were killed Saturday morning when they fell from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, officials said. The two fell about 8:15 a.m. while climbing the Freeblast route on the sheer granite rock, according to a statement from the National Park Service. Park rangers and rescue workers were immediately dispatched to the scene. The two climbers were identified as Jason Wells, 46, of Boulder, Colo., and Tim Klein, 42, of Palmdale, Calif., according to the park service. Freeblast is a climbing route on the first stretch of near-vertical rock above the tree line on El Capitan, which rises 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley. Yosemite’s majestic rock faces have proven both alluring and deadly for climbers. On May 21, a man died on Half Dome after he slipped and fell during a thunderstorm in the last 400 feet of the climb, where hikers grasp cables to scale the summit. Since the cables were installed nearly a century ago, eight people have died on that stretch, which is often congested with hikers in the warm months, according to the San Jose Mercury News. In September 2017, a climber was killed on El Capitan and another injured when a rock crashed down on a popular climbing route along the East Buttress of the monolith. Some of the best rock climbers in the world have risked their lives at Yosemite to achieve record-breaking feats. On May 30, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell broke the speed record for an ascent of El Capitan’s Nose route, scaling the rock’s forbidding prow in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 15 seconds. Hans Florine, Honnold’s partner in a previous record-setting climb in 2012, watched from a wheelchair after being injured in a May 4 fall from the Nose. In June 2017, Honnold became the first person to climb El Capitan without ropes. cindy.chang@latimes.com Twitter: @cindychangLA UPDATES: 6:15 p.m.: This article was updated with the identities of the two climbers. 4:05 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about past accidents at the park. 2:30 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional information from the National Park Service. This article was originally posted at 12:55 p.m.