Yosemite Institute Student Collapses While Hiking

A 17-year old student from Upland, California, collapsed while on a hiking trip with the Yosemite Institute to the top of Yosemite Falls. The student was with a group of approximately eight students, with several adult chaperones and instructors from the Institute when he suddenly collapsed near the summit of the Yosemite Fall Trail. Two Park Rangers were dispatched to the scene to assess the victim who was later transported to the Children’s Hospital in Madera by a California Highway Patrol helicopter.

The 3.5 mile strenuous hike is a regular part of the curriculum experienced by the students of the Yosemite Institute, a week-long residential environmental education program that allows young adults to experience Yosemite and develop personal connections to the natural world through environmental education programs. The trail is a strenuous, 3.5 mile hike that begins in Yosemite Valley and winds it’s way to the very precipice of the Valley climbing almost 4,000 feet.

The cause of the hikers collapse is unknown.