Speed climber Jake Whisenant dies in Sierra Nevada fall

Jake Whisenant, a California climber known for record-setting speed ascents on Yosemite’s El Capitan, has died after a climbing accident in the Sierra Nevada wilderness. He was 30.

Whisenant, of Mammoth Lakes, died Aug. 3 in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness, according to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Coroner Unit and the National Park Service. The sheriff’s office lists the cause of death as an accident and has not released additional details.

The National Park Service said personnel responded Aug. 2 to a “climbing-related incident” in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness. Rescue and recovery operations continued over two days before rangers found Whisenant dead.

Bailee Moore, who described Whisenant as a lifelong friend, told NBC News that he died in a fall while climbing and that the circumstances of the fall are still being investigated. She called his death an “unimaginable loss.”

“There’s no words that could possibly encapsulate the kind of person he was,” Moore said.

Whisenant was widely known in the climbing community for speed ascents, including a 2024 record on El Capitan’s Lurking Fear route with South Lake Tahoe climber Brant Hysell. The pair completed the roughly 2,000-foot route in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 32 seconds in October 2024, according to a post on Whisenant’s Instagram account. Two days earlier, they had climbed the same route in just over four hours.

Whisenant described the record-setting climb as “a truly magical day that I’ll never forget” in the social media post, The Guardian reported.

El Capitan, one of Yosemite National Park’s signature granite walls, is known as the “mecca of modern rock climbing,” according to The Guardian. Whisenant continued taking on difficult Yosemite routes after the Lurking Fear record. In May, he and fellow climber Noah Fox climbed El Capitan’s famed Nose route twice in one day, posting the feat on Fox’s Instagram account.

Moore said Whisenant’s life extended far beyond the records that made him known among climbers.

“He really was multitudes, and to say I’m heartbroken doesn’t do it justice,” she told NBC News.

In an Instagram post, Moore said Whisenant’s family was “absolutely devastated by this news but find solace in the fact that Jake died doing what he loves in the beautiful Sierra Nevada.”

Moore also launched a GoFundMe fundraiser intended to “create meaningful memorials in the places he loved.” The fundraising page says Whisenant “lived life with a rare sense of purpose.”

“His passion for climbing was only a small glimpse into the kind of person he was,” the page says. “He will always be remembered for his unwavering respect for nature, for others, and for every moment he was given.”