Rangers found Whisenant’s body after a two-day recovery operation
Jacob “Jake” Whisenant, a 30-year-old climber from Mammoth Lakes, California, died in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness on 3 August, according to the Tulare County sheriff’s office coroner unit and the National Park Service.
Authorities said Whisenant died after falling in the Sierra Nevada wilderness. NPS personnel responded to a “climbing-related incident” in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness on 2 August. Rescue and recovery operations were conducted over two days, and rangers found Whisenant dead.
Whisenant was well known in the climbing community for record-setting speed ascents in Yosemite National Park. In 2024, he and climbing partner Brant Hysell climbed a 2,000-foot route on El Capitan — known as the “mecca of modern rock climbing” — in two hours, 55 minutes and 32 seconds, according to a post by Whisenant.
Whisenant described the feat as “a truly magical day that I’ll never forget” in the social media post.
In May, Whisenant and another climbing partner completed the renowned Nose route twice in a single day.
A friend who spoke to multiple outlets called his death an “unimaginable loss.” Friend Bailee Moore said in an Instagram post: “Our family is absolutely devastated by this news but find solace in the fact that Jake died doing what he loves in the beautiful Sierra Nevada.”
Moore launched a GoFundMe fundraiser for Whisenant in an effort to “create meaningful memorials in the places he loved.”
“Jake Whisenant lived life with a rare sense of purpose,” reads the GoFundMe page. “His passion for climbing was only a small glimpse into the kind of person he was. He will always be remembered for his unwavering respect for nature, for others, and for every moment he was given.”