The State : Chutist Dies in Yosemite Leap

A parapchutist who illegally jumped off Yosemite National Park’s Half Dome plummeted to his death wehn his chute failed to open. Lisa Dapprich, a spokeswoman at Yosemite, said rangers were told by an anonymous telephone caller that someone had been killed jumping off Half Dome. an initial search failed to find the victim, but a park visitor on the mountain saw the man fall and later spotted the body. Searchers in a helicopter then recovered it. Dapprich said the victim, who was in his early 30’s, remained unidentified. Parachuting anywhere in the national park is illegal. The last parachuting fatality in Yosemite was in August, 1983, when another man jumped off Half Dome and his chute failed to open.