YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California (AP) – Two skiers navigated a thin layer of snow with no margin for error along the steep shoulder of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park and alternately skied and rappelled back down to the valley in an unusually daring performance.
Jason Torlano, 45, and Zach Milligan, 40, completed the descent in five hours on Sunday, carefully carving their way through crusty snow and using ropes to rappel down various sections of bare rock known as the ‘death plates’ under the iconic face of Half Dome, the Fresno Bee reported Thursday.
“If you fall to the left or right, you’re definitely dead,” said JT Holmes, a professional freeskier who is a friend of Torlano. “If you fall in the middle, you have a slim chance of not dying – but it’s a maybe.”
Snowboarder Jim Zellers is believed to have been the first to descend the top 243 meters (800 feet) on the shoulder of the dome in 2000. But no one is known to have attempted the entire 4,800-foot (1,463-meter) descent from top to bottom.
Torlano said he dreamed of skiing in the dome since his family moved to Yosemite when he was 5 years old.
He first climbed Half Dome as a youngster, clinging to the same cables that tens of thousands of visitors do every year to ascend the final steep slope along the rounded side of the polished granite element. He advanced to become one of an elite group of climbers who climbed the huge granite face with ropes to cushion his fall at least a dozen times. Later he became a forester in the park.
“It’s just always been there,” Torlano told the San Francisco Chronicle“I’ve been attracted to Half Dome for as long as I can remember.”
After serving in the United States Army for a while, he settled with his wife and children in a community near Yosemite. He specializes in the use of ropes for work at great heights and in hazardous environments.
He said he had been trying to ski down each of the Half Dome for the past three years, but quit 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 on the top of Half Dome.
He rented a small plane from a friend on February 19 to study snow conditions and possible route before calling Milligan, a climbing buddy, to join him.
Milligan said he initially planned to only film Torlano skiing, but decided to make his own run by sliding gently on skis. He said things quickly got dangerous when he skied over part of one of the cables and lost control before using an ice ax to stop his slide and was able to straighten himself.
“I was just trying to stay in control and stay alive,” Milligan said. “You’re on that backbone and you don’t have much room for error.”