The second climber who died in Joshua Tree National Park last weekend fell to her death after she tied her safety rope to a weak nylon webbing while rock climbing, witnesses present at the spot have said.
Tina Lynn Fiori, 51, died following an 80ft-fall around 4pm on Saturday. The Riverside County resident was an experienced climber, according to her companions.
Matt Himmelstein, who had accompanied the woman and another person to rock climb on Saturday, said failed equipment led to Fiori’s death. She had tied her safety rope to a nylon webbing left behind by someone else on the route previously. The inadequate and worn-out nylon led to her death, he said.
He said that their group was on a climbing route called “turkey terror” after spending most of the day climbing in the canyon area behind campsite one when the mishap took place.
Mr Himmelstein said their team of three was the last to climb this particular wall from where Fiori fell.
“We had gear that was placed by a member of the group that we climbed off of,” Mr Himmelstein told Desert Sun, adding that by the day’s end, someone has to go up and remove the climbing gear and come back to the bottom.
To do that, one can thread the rope through something already present at the top. This was where Fiori was unfortunate.
“[Fiori] just ended up being the last person in the day to climb up there,” Mr Himmelstein said. “She got to the top and told us that she had secured herself, so the person down at the bottom was no longer doing that safety work.”
When she leaned back to come down from the rocks, the poor strengthened webbing gave way, resulting in her fall and accidental death.
Pointing to the problematic nylon rope, to which the “desert is not kind”, Mr Himmelstein said nylon gets compromised easily. “It doesn’t take a whole lot of time, sitting in the sun baking and also getting rained on being frozen and all that stuff,” he said, adding that he was not sure how old the rope was.
The National Park Service confirmed Fiori’s identity and said there were no signs of foul play so far.
Officials said: “The details and cause of the fall are currently unknown. No signs of foul play were present. No further information is available at this time.”
A 35-year-old schoolteacher from San Diego was the first person to die while rock climbing in Joshua Tree National Park this year. His body was found on 17 January.
