A California rock climber died Saturday when he tumbled off the side of a mountain in Yosemite National Park just hours after he proposed to his girlfriend.
Brad Parker, a veteran rock climber from Sebastopol, decided to go on a solo climb shortly after asking his girlfriend, Jainee Dial, to be his wife, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
“This is the happiest day of my life,” he told Dial, according to his father, Bill Parker.
Parker popped the question Saturday just after the couple finished climbing to the summit of Cathedral Peak in the Tuolumne Meadows area of the park.
A short time later, Parker got the itch to do another climb. He left his new fiancée behind and set off for Matthes Crest, a dramatic mountain ridge around three miles away from Cathedral Peak.
Instead of taking the necessary safety precautions, Parker attempted to traverse the notorious granite chest without any ropes or climbing partners.
Around 5:45 p.m., climbers in the area said they saw Parker fall off the side of the mountain to the ground below.
His body was discovered later that night, but park rangers waited until Sunday to remove it because it was too late to bring in a helicopter, the Press Democrat reports.
The experienced climber was featured on the cover of California Climber magazine in 2012 and also conquered the face of Yosemite’s Half Dome in near-record time, his father told the Press Democrat.
Despite understanding his love of climbing, Parker’s father also said his son’s passion for the dangerous hobby was “always a concern” for his parents.
Aside from mountain climbing, the avid adventurist also enjoyed surfing, mountain biking, backpacking and fly fishing.
“We’re all so stunned,” Parker’s father told the local newspaper.
“What happened is so unbelievable.”