{"id":37504,"date":"2026-08-11T00:18:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37504"},"modified":"2026-08-11T00:18:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:18:31","slug":"jake-whisenant-record-setting-speed-climber-dies-at-30-in-climbing-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37504","title":{"rendered":"Jake Whisenant, record-setting speed climber, dies at 30 in climbing accident"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260810-Jake-Whisenant-ew-1156a-a53aaa.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-c87f38\" class=\"body-graf\">A climber known for setting speed records in Yosemite National Park has died in a climbing accident in California.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6641d1\" class=\"body-graf\">Jake Whisenant, 30, of Mammoth Lakes, died on Aug. 3, according to the Tulare County Sheriff\u2019s Office Coroner.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-953c32\" class=\"body-graf\">The sheriff\u2019s office <a href=\"https:\/\/tularecounty.ca.gov\/sheriff\/media\/coroner-releases\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a> lists the cause of death as \u201caccident\u201d and officials have not released additional details. Tulare County includes Sequoia National Park and the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range.<\/p>\n<section id=\"anchor-d4a6b7\" class=\"embed-widget embedWidget embed-widget--medium\" data-testid=\"embed-widget\"\/>\n<p id=\"anchor-6e2f13\" class=\"body-graf\">Bailee Moore, who described Whisenant as her lifelong friend, told NBC News on Monday that he died in a fall while climbing and that the details surrounding the fall are still being investigated.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-383e6f\" class=\"body-graf\">She called his death an \u201cunimaginable loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-07c3b4\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThere\u2019s no words that could possibly encapsulate the kind of person he was,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a8564c\" class=\"body-graf\">Whisenant was known in the climbing community for his speed ascents, including record-setting climbs in Yosemite.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9f8c2e\" class=\"body-graf\">In October 2024, he and South Lake Tahoe climber Brant Hysell completed the Lurking Fear route on Yosemite\u2019s El Capitan in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 32 seconds.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fce28a\" class=\"body-graf\">The pair\u2019s speed record came two days after they completed the same route in just over four hours.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cbf3ba\" class=\"body-graf\">In October 2024, Whisenant and South Lake Tahoe climber Brant Hysell set a speed record on El Capitan\u2019s Lurking Fear route, finishing in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 32 seconds, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DBt8rSNybqK\/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\">according to a post on Jake\u2019s Instagram account.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-35f29f\" class=\"body-graf\">Two days earlier, the pair had completed the same route in just over four hours.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-58e448\" class=\"body-graf\">Following the achievement, Whisenant continued taking on challenging routes in Yosemite. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bc2e8e\" class=\"body-graf\">In May, he and fellow climber Noah Fox climbed El Capitan\u2019s famed Nose route twice in one day, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DYvBIT9Ekm8\/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\" target=\"_blank\">posting the duo\u2019s feat on Fox\u2019s Instagram account.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-395855\" class=\"body-graf\">Moore remembered Whisenant as \u201cmuch more than a climber.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bdde38\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cHe really was multitudes, and to say I\u2019m heartbroken doesn\u2019t do it justice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A climber known for setting speed records in Yosemite National Park has died in a climbing accident in California. Jake Whisenant, 30, of Mammoth Lakes, died on Aug. 3, according to the Tulare County Sheriff\u2019s Office Coroner. The sheriff\u2019s office website lists the cause of death as \u201caccident\u201d and officials have not released additional details&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260810-Jake-Whisenant-ew-1156a-a53aaa.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}