Hiker Identified After Fatal Fall From Yosemite's Half Dome Trail

Updated 1 p.m. Friday with the identity of the fallen hiker.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — The hiker who fell to his death Monday while climbing the cables on the north side of Half Dome at Yosemite National Park has been identified as 29-year-old Asish Penugonda.

National Park Service spokeswoman Jamie Richards said he was an Indian national who had been living and working in the United States.

Friends set up a Go Fund Me campaign to help raise money for his funeral and to provide assistance for his family in India.

"Asish has been the epitome of character and a sunshine of positivity to everyone surrounding him,"  wrote his friend, Swamy Sagar Kottur. "The people who knew him would always remember the good he did and for the surreal strength of morality he has been when they need him. He will always be in our hearts, thoughts and prayers."

The page includes a quote from Asish: "Our identity is not what we own but what we do."

The accident occurred Monday around 4:30 p.m. in rainy conditions when Penugonda and a companion were scaling the steepest part of the trail where rangers had recently installed cables to help hikers get to the top of the 8,800-foot rock.

His body was recovered Tuesday afternoon.

Richards said the companion was helped from the trail and was unharmed.

The cables are installed each summer to assist the thousands of hikers who make the popular 14-mile round trip. Richards said hikers can clip safety harnesses to the cables, but the vast majority don't.

Richards said investigators are still trying to determine how the fall occurred. She said it's unclear if the hikers were climbing in the rain, but that the well-worn trail over smooth rock was wet.

The NPS said it's the first fatal fall from Half Dome since 2011.