Arizona Dad Urges Reforms After Daughter’s Tragic Fall at Yosemite’s Half Dome

The fourth-generation Sun Devil was about to graduate with a degree in education, well on her way to becoming a student-teacher at her high school alma mater.

PHOENIX — An Arizona State University student and Valley Lutheran High School graduate died after slipping and falling while hiking up Yosemite’s Half Dome with her father earlier this month, according to family members.

Grace Rohloff, 20, was an experienced hiker and had secured a coveted permit to hike Half Dome with her father, Jonathan Rohloff, on July 11.

“She told me it was something on her bucket list, and she was so happy about it,” Jonathan Rohloff said during a sit-down interview.

They reached the summit just before a thunderstorm. While descending, Grace Rohloff slipped and fell down the mountain. “That day was supposed to be 65 and cloudy so we knew it would be dangerous,” Jonathan Rohloff said.

Jonathan recalled a “loud thunderclap” overhead as they completed their ascent. Descending, Grace slipped on a wet section of rock. “She was in between the wooden blocks and slipped to the ground, and it happened very fast,” Jonathan said.

He recalled the smile on his daughter’s face ten minutes before the fall. “There’s no way ten minutes before, when she was up there smiling ear to ear, that I thought I only had 10 minutes left with her. It was a tragedy,” he said.

Jonathan Rohloff described his daughter as fearless and adventurous. “She was an adventurer. We did hikes all throughout Arizona. Grace and I put on thousands of miles hiking,” he said.

The soon-to-be fourth-generation Sun Devil was set to graduate with a degree in education in just two and a half years. She was well on her way to becoming a student-teacher at Valley Lutheran High School. “She brightened up every room she was in. She was an amazing human being,” Jonathan said.

Yosemite National Park officials have not issued a statement on the death yet. The family hopes to work with park officials to make the cable system used by thousands annually safer. Jonathan wants his daughter’s death to bring meaningful change. “If we can make the cabling system at Yosemite a lot safer…that would be something she would have wanted,” Jonathan said.

At least 15 people have died on the cables and at the top of Half Dome since 1948, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

A celebration of life for Grace Rohloff will be held Saturday, July 27, at Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Litchfield Park at 10 a.m.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and…