A 56-year-old man died on Memorial Day after falling about 500 feet from a ridge on the summit of Mount Russell in the Sequoia National Park in California, officials said.
One of the man’s hiking partners, a 45-year-old woman, fell 30 feet after trying to grab him and survived, the National Park Service said in a news release.
A third member of the party used a GPS beacon to summon rescuers, NPS said.
The names of the hikers were not released, although the man was described as from San Jose, California.
The injured woman, described as from Milpitas, California, was rescued from a ledge and was later transported by air to a hospital in Reno, Nevada, where she underwent surgery.
“The parks responded to eight separate search and rescue incidents over the three-day holiday weekend,” according to public affairs at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
The Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are located in the southern Sierra Nevadas, about 78 miles east of Fresno. The two parks, which are jointly administered, are known for the giant sequoia trees.
