Balin Miller: Climbing star dies after plummeting down Yosemite during livestream

A climbing influencer has tragically died while live-streaming as he scaled an iconic rock face, with his devastated mother opening up on the "horrible nightmare".

Balin Miller, 23, fell to his death on Wednesday as he was scaling El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. El Capitan is one of the most striking features of Yosemite National Park, an enormous sheer granite rock face of approximately 3,000 feet (915 metres) that entices big-wall rock climbers from all over the world.

The climber's mother Jeanine Girard-Moorman said: “He’s been climbing since he was a young boy. His heart and soul was truly to just climb. He loved to climb and it was never about money and fame.”

On Facebook she added: 'It is with a heavy heart I have to tell you my incredible son Balin Miller died during a climbing accident today. My heart is shattered in a million pieces. I don't know how I will get through this. I love him so much. I want to wake up from this horrible nightmare."

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Many posted tributes to Balin on social media, saying they had watched him climb on a TikTok livestream for two days before his death and referring to him as “orange tent guy” because of his distinctive camp setup.

While it’s still unclear exactly what happened, his older brother, Dylan Miller, said Balin was lead rope soloing — a way to climb alone while still protected by a rope — on a 2,400-foot (730-metre) route named Sea of Dreams. He had already finished the climb and was hauling up his last bit of gear when he likely rappelled off the end of his rope, Dylan said.

Balin was an accomplished alpinist who had already gained international attention for claiming the first solo ascent of Mount McKinley’s Slovak Direct, a technically difficult route that took him 56 hours to complete, he posted on his Instagram in June.

He grew up climbing in Alaska with his brother and their father, who was also a climber. While Dylan took a little more time to fall in love with the sport, it stuck with his younger sibling instantly. “He said he felt most alive when he was climbing,” Dylan said. “I’m his bigger brother but he was my mentor.”

Balin's most recent trip to Yosemite wasn’t supposed to be hard climbing. He had just arrived two weeks early to climb and enjoy the park’s beauty and solitude before the rest of his family, who planned to meet up there.

More than just a climber, he loved animals and was fun, kind and full of life, his mother said. He often climbed with a stripe of glitter freckles across his cheekbones, describing it in a climbing magazine interview like “a warrior putting makeup on before going into battle.”

“He has inspired so many people to do things that are perhaps unthinkable, including myself. I can’t imagine climbing ever again without him,” his brother said.