[Michail_P]

No photo is worth getting injured. If someone has an even worse fate, then the photo is not even important. So for what freakin reason should anyone be in such a place!? Idiotic behaviors aren’t useless. They remind us of everyday hazards that we generally forget. We are fragile. No one is immortal.
Stay safe.

[jatrax]

In the interest of full disclosure and penitence, I walked past several signs to get the photo below and while I was not quite as close as the fisheye photo makes it appear (far tripod leg about 12" from edge), it was not a place to linger.

I think I have several shots from that exact spot.... I do not recall seeing any signs though. I am always extremely careful in situations like that. Never rush, examine the terrain carefully and if it feels wrong just walk away, no shot is worth getting hurt.

What I really love though is carefully working my way up to a view like that, totally focused on each step, examining the ground for each step, being as focused and cautious as I can and then.......... My wife shouting BE CAREFUL from right behind me. Can't tell you how many times I nearly went over a cliff in fright.........

[UncleVanya]

At the Grand Canyon on the rim there are only rails in the most heavily traveled spots. I have been close to the edge but never in what I felt was the danger/crumble zone. I also don’t look in the camera viewfinder while moving that close around the edge. I’ve been on trails below the rim where there are no guardrails and you are as close to drop off as on the rim so I don’t think I endangered myself. Here I am always respectful of the cliffs water etc.

With proper caution you can get close but too close and dead go hand in hand. I’m more cautious now than I was at 30. And at 30 I was more cautious than at 20. Being nimble and sure footed gave me too much confidence perhaps.

I’m sad she died. I’m glad people hear about it and maybe think very carefully before they put themselves at risk.

[yucatanPentax]

While in Crater Lake NP a few years ago I witnessed a team of park rangers doing a rope rescue of two guys that had ended up about 200 yards down the slope into the crater. Both were hanging onto little shrubs and could not climb out because the slope kept sliding every time they moved. They were both just a few yards from the real edge where it drops almost vertically into the lake.

Talking to park service people later apparently these two had already been caught on the wrong side of the barrier once by park police and asked to leave the park. They didn't and tried again to go down into the crater. Why? Who knows. There isn't anything on that slope except volcanic ash and a few shrubs. Park police again warned them and asked them to leave but told me there was nothing else they could do. Not even force them to leave.


Three park rangers took several hours out of their day and risked their lives to rope up and descend down a dangerous slope with ash, gravel and boulders falling down past them to rescue two "skater dudes" that should never have been allowed off of asphalt. I still have no idea what they thought they were doing down there. I would have fined them and added rescue costs and banned them for life. Instead they got a verbal warning that such things are dangerous and asked (again) to leave the park.

While I cannot be sure of the exact circumstances in this case, I can assure you that NP Rangers have a variety of tools at their disposal, including numerous violations of federal Title 36 which could involve imprisonment of up to six months, unlimited fine (used to be limited to either $500 or $1000, now revised), and assessed all costs of trial for each count. Even "destroying vegetation" could have been applied, since they were pulling on little shrubs to hold themselves in place.

(a) Violation of Regulations Relating to Use and Management of National Park System Units.—
A person that violates any regulation authorized by section 100751(a) of title 54 shall be imprisoned not more than 6 months, fined under this title, or both, and be adjudged to pay all cost of the proceedings.

From the description, there could be at least half a dozen violations issued, resulting in trial before a federal magistrate. That the Rangers did not cite the visitors and escort them from the park is likely a policy decision, made by local management. But under the law, there were actually many violations for that behavior.

As a former federal ranger, I issued many such citations and testified in resulting trials. In one case, after nearly killing a woman who was swimming in a marked area, a power boat driver was fined $1000 & costs for reckless behavior. That was a substantial sum a few decades ago. Upon pleading poverty, the judge ordered his camper and boat sold to fulfill the fine. Suddenly, the boat driver found $1000. I've never seen a magistrate fool around with these cases. They take citations from parks seriously.

Anyway, just another perspective. There have been policy decisions to go easier on people than formerly was done.

[stevebrot]

At the Grand Canyon on the rim there are only rails in the most heavily traveled spots.

Have you seen the book, "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon"? They sell it in the gift shop at the south rim.


Click through to buy from Amazon...Great gift idea! (PF gets a cut. )

There are companion volumes for several other national parks.


Steve

[yucatanPentax]

Have you seen the book, "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon"? They sell it in the gift shop at the south rim.


Click through to buy from Amazon...Great gift idea! (PF gets a cut. )

There are companion volumes for several other national parks.

Steve

I had no idea about the "deaths" books. I guess there's a market for everything. There's an odd and difficult juxtaposition regarding awful deaths in beautiful natural surroundings. Personally, I don't care to relive those I was involved with. Each was an immense tragedy.

[UncleVanya]

Have you seen the book, "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon"? They sell it in the gift shop at the south rim.


Click through to buy from Amazon...Great gift idea! (PF gets a cut. )

There are companion volumes for several other national parks.


Steve

Yes. When I was there I also attended a ranger discussion that had that as one of the topics. Part of the discussion focused on the fact that at that time (no longer true sadly) no child had died in 100 years by falling. This was used to tell kids to hold their parents hands to protect them.

The sad fact is that a lot of the deaths then were clearly driven by showing off. Recovered cameras and cell phones and first hand accounts of “hey watch me pretend to fall” were tragically accidentally true.

[UncleVanya]

I had no idea about the "deaths" books. I guess there's a market for everything. There's an odd and difficult juxtaposition regarding awful deaths in beautiful natural surroundings. Personally, I don't care to relive those I was involved with. Each was an immense tragedy.

The rangers at the Grand Canyon in the talk I attended made sure to clearly state that if you hiked in and broke a leg, you are likely to have to hike out on the splinted leg. If you can’t an air ambulance ride will be billed to you at a cost that could be up to (at that time) several $10k increments.

[robgski]

n retrospect, the risk was not work the shot.

I don't know, it's a very fine image. Too bad you didn't get the closest lip of the canyon in .

[jatrax]

While I cannot be sure of the exact circumstances in this case, I can assure you that NP Rangers have a variety of tools at their disposal,

Thanks for posting this, it makes me feel a little better that the rangers do have options. I do not know why they elected to do nothing in this case but it was their call so I will not second guess them. It was a busy day with lots of traffic and the last thing they needed was taking the time for a rope rescue. Fortunately it worked out OK and no one was hurt.

Here is a shot of the ranger working his way down the slope and getting one of the rescuees hooked up to a harness. Just a little further to the left is a near vertical drop. The little bushes were all the man was holding on to. His partner was a little further along the slope and holding on to a tree about 6 feet tall right at the edge.

[stevebrot]

I don't know, it's a very fine image. Too bad you didn't get the closest lip of the canyon in .

I have a second shot where the tripod foot is visible, but the composition as a whole was not pleasing.


Steve

[yucatanPentax]

Thanks for posting this, it makes me feel a little better that the rangers do have options. I do not know why they elected to do nothing in this case but it was their call so I will not second guess them. It was a busy day with lots of traffic and the last thing they needed was taking the time for a rope rescue. Fortunately it worked out OK and no one was hurt.

Cool images! Nice that you were able to capture those.

There's often a feeling of "well, now they've learned their lesson, so why pile on?" Often that's not true -- they haven't learned. To be honest, I'd be tempted to call down, "Have you learned yet? How long do you think we should leave you?" This may be why I eventually sought another career.

But being a very busy day, they likely had other things to attend to. Often, emergencies pile up. It would be nice for our great resources to be sufficiently funded. Not sure they ever have been.

Thanks for sharing this story.

[bschriver11]

This is the "smart phone" generation. Phone and software companies will probably be sued because no warning popped up on the phone!

[jatrax]

To be honest, I'd be tempted to call down, "Have you learned yet? How long do you think we should leave you?"

I was close enough to hear a lot of the conversation between them and I remember being impressed with the professionalism of the rangers. Everything was "please sir stay still", "Sir, just hang on right there I'll be with you as soon as I can". That despite the two dudes shouting derogatory terms and insisting the rangers hurry up and do their "f*** jobs".


It was a strange mixture of pride and despair in my fellow humans.

[MossyRocks]

An now I am reminded of the buffalo that surprisingly didn't kill a lady this year out in Custer State Park who was out getting nice and close. There is video of her getting tossed around a fair bid but she walked away. Apparently they need signs that read "This will kill you and it will hurt the entire time"

I like taking pictures of things and places but never do risky things although I do want to go see about photographing some buffalo at one of the state parks one of these days I will poke my head out the sun roof of the car with a monster lens.