A tourist at Yellowstone’s Lower Falls risked his life on Wednesday by climbing out to a dangerous section of rocks above the raging 308-
foot waterfall. A professional rock climber and author told Cowboy State Daily the action was so idiotic he was “laughing at the stupidity.”
Photos of a man who climbed out onto an outcropping overlooking the raging Yellowstone Lower Falls puts into focus the heights — literally — some tourists will go to when breaking the rules to take photos of the national park’s spectacular scenery and wildlife. Many of these are captured by others and shared on the Facebook group “Yellowstone National Park: Invasion of the Idiots,” which curates a constant stream of photos and videos, including those Wednesday of the man out above the falls. Jeff Hahn used a long camera lens to capture the retreat of the man who descended to one of the most dangerous places imaginable in the national park:
the brink of the Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.Death by slip or misstep would be inevitable. The bespeckled man was spotted crawling back down to wherever he descended from, wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and what appeared to be Converse shoes. The white curtain of screaming water, which can hurl up to 60,000 gallons of per second tumbling 308 feet below, seems only a few feet away.
No climbing is permitted in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, but even for a tourism season already predicted to see more bad tourist behavior, the recklessness on display in Hahn’s photos is almost too much for even seasoned “touron” watchers.
And in this case, the indications are that this tourist was lucky to escape with his life, and he knew it
When Wesley Gooch, the author of “Rock Climbing Jackson Hole & Pinedale, Wyoming — A Day Climber’s Guide,” saw the photos, his first reaction was laughter.He said to Cowboy State Daily, “I’m laughing at the stupidity.” “That is foolish. It’s ridiculous, and I hate to laugh.”
Although Gooch was unsure of the climber’s method of descent, he felt comfortable drawing some conclusions from his own experiences. Everything he needed to know was in the man’s body language. “He’s crawling, not walking,” he said. “He’s crawling away after getting lightheaded.
When you get around a cliff like that, especially with that kind of flowing water, people become dizzy. It is simple to carry out.””I can stand on the edge of a cliff if I’m roped in and not feel dizzy,” he added. “If I’m not hooked in, I suddenly get dizzy.
It’s an odd mental phenomenon. Additionally, it may be amplified by background motion.” And there was the man’s dress code. Gooch figured “the city kid” in the shorts and sneakers didn’t really know how dangerous he was until he scrambled onto the uneven boulder, which Gooch called “garbage
rock.”including those Wednesday of the man out above the falls. Jeff Hahn used a long camera lens to capture the retreat of the man who descended to one of the most dangerous places imaginable in the national park: the brink of the Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.Death by slip or misstep would be inevitable. The bespeckled man was spotted crawling back down to wherever he descended from, wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and what appeared to be Converse shoes. The white curtain of screaming water, which can hurl up to 60,000 gallons of per second tumbling 308 feet below, seems only a few feet away.
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