BURSTAlpinist Balin Miller, one of the most accomplished climbers of his generation, died in Yosemite National Park on Oct. 1 at the age of 23. The accident was captured on a TikTok livestream. Miller died rappelling off the end of his rope after completing the final pitch of Sea of Dreams. He fell 730 metres from just below the top of El Cap.
Miller was known for his bold solos, including the second ascent of Reality Bath in the Canadian Rockies, the first of the North Buttress of Mount Hunter via the French Connection, and the first of the Slovak Direct on Denali. Alaskan alpinist Clint Helander said Miller was “the new king of the Alaska Range.” Miller once said, “Anything Mark Twight does is awesome.” Twight was one of the two climbers, the other being Randy Rackliff, who made the first ascent of Reality Bath in 1988.
Miller, who grew up in Alaska, had started climbing at a young age along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage. When not climbing, Miller often worked as a crab fisherman. He recently wrote a story for Gripped magazine about his solo of Reality Bath, from which we’ve included an excerpt below. Our deepest condolences to Miller’s family and friends.
I could still feel Patagonia in my legs, and the post-holing didn’t help. My calves weren’t liking the lower-angle ice. Tier after tier, I found myself making good progress. But the wind was getting stronger, and so was the spindrift. At times, I had to put my head down and wait it out. I soon arrived at the crux pitch. It was steep, thin, and fragile for the first 15 meters. Some swings would break off body-sized chunks, and others would make the ice vibrate and bellow. The spindrift worsened, and my arms felt heavy and exhausted. I debated throwing in a screw and hanging off it. But the climbing eased off higher, so I shook out in spindrift and kept going. The pitch ended up being around 50 meters of steep and sustained ice. I dug out a poor spot between the snow and rock before the next pitch to rest. I drank some water, ate some food, and watched my backpack fill with spindrift. I got excited by how close to the big blue serac I was. I felt as though it was calling me towards it. The next tiers went by so quickly, and I was below the glacier before I knew it. I had debated climbing the serac, but after kicking off a few small slides on the snow ledges and feeling general fatigue, I decided it best to pass on the serac, much like Twight and Rackliff.
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