A California man canyoneering in Death Valley National Park died after he slipped on an unstable rock and fell nearly 100 feet, officials said Monday.
Justin Ibershoff, 38, of Los Angeles, was descending a steep, rocky slope at Deimos Canyon with a group of six experienced canyoneers when he fell, the National Park Service said in a news release.
Stepping on the unstable slope prompted a rockslide that pushed him past two other people in his group and over the edge of a 95-foot dry fall, the park service said.
The group alerted a search-and-rescue team using an emergency beacon. After reaching Ibershoff a few hours later, the team determined that he was dead, the service said.
Canyoneering — which combines hiking and rappelling down canyons — has seen increasing popularity in recent years at the park, where there are 200 established routes, the park service said.
Another canyoneer, Matthew Yaussi, 41, died at Death Valley last year while rappelling down a 380-foot cliff.
The park service said Monday that conditions remained unstable in the area of Deimos Canyon where Ibershoff fell.
Death Valley is roughly two hours northwest of Las Vegas, in California’s Mojave Desert.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
