Skiers make first descent of Yosemite peak, risking 'death slabs' and avalanches

The pair hiked up to a tree near the summit of Yosemite’s Half Dome peak, at almost 9,000ft, and took turns keeping a fire going. The next day they set out just after 3am to avoid the sun warming up the ice and snow, raising the risk of avalanches.

Once there was enough daylight to see that conditions were safe,the pair clambered up to the peak, strapped on their skis, and began the perilous glide towards a face that looked almost vertical – and to the “death slabs” below.

It so happens that they were enjoying themselves.

On 21 February, longtime skier and Yosemite resident Jason Torlano finally completed his goal of skiing the upper part of Half Dome. He was joined by a friend, Zach Milligan, who calls himself an expert in “staying alive” during risky outdoor activities.

“After we made it all the way down to the bottom of Mirror Lake,” at about 4,000ft above sea level, “I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe we just [did it]’ – like it was sort of surreal,” Torlano said.

The adventure wasearlier reported by the Fresno Bee, and it has been described as seemingly the first ever ski descent of Half Dome to involve descending so far down the mountain. In 2000, snowboarder Jim Zellers completed the first snowboard descent of Half Dome, but he didn’t go all the way down to the lake.

Torlano, 45, said that his descent wasn’t his first attempt. In the past there wasn’t enough snow or the snow was too loose, increasing the chances of being caught in an avalanche or slipping off a ledge. But this February, Torlano had an inkling that conditions were right. Some friends of his own a skydiving business in Yosemite, and he asked how much it would cost to check conditions on the mountain.

“We did a legal fly over in a Cessna [airplane], I saw there was snow on it and the next day I left,” he said. “We landed the plane, I went home and got my ski stuff.”

Torlano moved to the Yosemite area at the age of five, and his love of winter sports began as a student growing up in view of the mountains. “When you look up from the playgrounds … you can see all the mountains of Yosemite, but mostly Half Dome,” he said. “When most kids were playing soccer and football, we didn’t have any of that stuff, we had a ski day.”

Some of the drop-offs on either