'We'd surely be dead:' Hamilton man narrowly escapes fatal rockfall at Yosemite's El Capitan
Nick Boisvert | CBC News | Posted: September 28, 2017 4:42 PM | Last Updated: September 29, 2017
Peter Zabrok watched a 30-by-30 metre slab of rock break off underneath him
A Hamilton man says he's lucky to be alive after narrowly avoiding a massive and deadly rockfall on the face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
Peter Zabrok watched what he described as an "apartment-sized" chunk of granite break off the wall underneath him Wednesday afternoon.
"I've never seen anything like it in over 700 nights on El Cap," Zabrok told CBC Toronto by phone. The 58-year-old was still camped out on the face of the wall in the predawn hours of Thursday morning.
"It was petrifying. It was unbelievable," he said.
Reports from the park say one person was killed and another injured in the rockfall, and that at least 30 people were on the wall when the granite broke off.
The victim has not been identified.
Climber saw warning signs
The experienced mountaineer is completing his 58th summit of the world-famous monolith, which began with ominous signs.
Before embarking on the climb, Zabrok and his partners saw fresh rockfall around their intended route, but decided to go anyway after consulting with a park ranger.
After five nights underneath massive 30 metre grooves, he and his team passed the rockfall zone just one day before the slab broke off.
"If it had cut loose any sooner you wouldn't be talking to me right now," Zabrok said after a restless night on the wall.
"We shouldn't have climbed there. It was a bad call," he added. "What can I say? God was looking out for us."
Zabrok said he and his climbing partners were scaling the 900 metre rock face at a faster than unusual pace. Had they not been, "we'd still be under there, and we'd surely be dead," he said.
Rockfalls are common at El Capitan but seldom fatal.
In 2013, a 38-year-old woman was killed after her rope was dislodged by a falling rock.
Yosemite remained open after Wednesday's rockfall, and other activities throughout the park weren't affected, rangers said.