Arabic version: وفاة متسلق السرعة في إل كابيتان جيك ويسينانت إثر سقوط في سييرا

According to The Guardian, Jacob “Jake” Whisenant, a 30-year-old climber from Mammoth Lakes, California, died after a fall in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness. The Tulare county sheriff’s office coroner unit and the National Park Service said Whisenant died on 3 August.

National Park Service personnel responded to what it described as a “climbing-related incident” in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness on 2 August. Rescue and recovery operations continued over two days, and rangers found Whisenant dead.

Whisenant was known in the climbing community for speed ascents in Yosemite national park. In 2024, he and climbing partner Brant Hysell completed a 2,000ft El Capitan route in two hours, 55 minutes and 32 seconds, according to a post by Whisenant. He called the climb “a truly magical day that I’ll never forget.” In May, Whisenant and another climbing partner climbed the renowned Nose route twice in one day.

His fiancee, Emma London, wrote in an online obituary that Whisenant had fallen while climbing a first ascent in Sequoia Kings Canyon. London said he grew up in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert suburbs and studied environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he took up composting, surfing and cycling. Friend Bailee Moore launched a GoFundMe fundraiser intended to create memorials in places Whisenant loved.