LEARNING AT HOME Use the news: Death-defying ski trip

Lesson for grades 9-12 Half Dome in Yosemite National Park is one of the most famous rock formations in the world. It looks like a giant gray basketball cut in half and it soars nearly 5,000 feet up from the valley below to a total elevation of more than 8,800 feet. Every year thousands of hikers challenge themselves to climb the Half Dome from the valley to the summit and back.

This winter two men from the state of California outdid the most hardy of adventurers. Jason Torlano, 45, and Zach Milligan, 40, traveled down Half Dome, on skis, over thin snow and a route that could have killed them with a wrong move at any moment. At one point they had to take off their skis and use rappelling techniques to climb down bare rocks known as “death slabs” for the danger they present. The super skiers completed the 4,800-foot descent in five hours.

Torlano, who grew up in Yosemite Valley, said skiing Half Dome was a dream come true. “I just couldn’t believe we pulled it off,” he said. “I was just trying to stay alive,” Milligan said.

Skiing down Half Dome is an extreme sports achievement.

Activity: In the newspaper or online, find and closely read a story about another extreme sports achievement. Use what you read to write a personal column detailing what skills and character traits were needed for the athlete to succeed in this extreme sport. Include which of these skills you have and whether you would like to try the extreme sport activity. Share with friends and discuss.

JASON TORLANO VIA AP In this photo provided by Jason Torlano, he poses with his friend, Zach Milligan, right, on Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Feb. 21. Two men climbed some 4,000 feet to the top of Yosemite’s Half Dome in subfreezing temperatures and skied down the famously steep monolith to the valley floor. Torlano, 45, and Milligan, 40, completed the daring descent in five hours on by charging down Half Dome’s arching back and using ropes to rappel down several sections of bare rock known as the “death slabs,” the Fresno Bee reported.