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A prominent mountain climber who lived in a cave in Yosemite National Park for 13 years was discovered dead in the Canadian Rockies after an apparent fall.
According to Gripped.com, Parks Canada rangers discovered the corpse of Zach Milligan, 43, at the base of the 2,300-foot-tall Arctic Circus in Jasper National Park on February 11.
“They found what appeared to be a deceased person at the bottom of a cliff in that area,” Lake Louise Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Susan Richter told a climbing-news source.
According to the police, Milligan’s death appeared to be accidental.
In 2021, Milligan and his friend Jason Torlano made news when they were the first persons to ski down Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.
Close pal and fellow climber Chris Van Leuven recalled Milligan’s “insatiable love for adventure.
“He is my favorite dude, and I really loved his honesty — I loved his personality, his black-and-white way of viewing the world, his dedication to his craft and his high ethics,” Van Leuven told the Calgary Sun from California.
“He climbed at a very, very high level both on rock and on ice as a free soloist. … And he would always be training his body and mind for performing in the mountains,” Van Leuven said.
“He was like a marathon-fit rock climber, dedicated dirt bag to the core, but also an intellectual,” Van Leuven said, adding that Milligan was a “real larger-than-life person.
“He wasn’t intentionally loving, but the way he was so honest with everyone made them closer to him. We all really respected him. There’s a great outpouring of support, and we all feel the same way,” he said.
Former girlfriend Kristin Anderson said Milligan had spent the past year in Montana and went climbing in Canada’s Banff National Park shortly before his accident.
“Most of his climbs are done solo, so it’s a very comfortable space for him to be in, and I look at the [Polar Circus] climb, and it was well within his climbing ability . . . so it is shocking,” Anderson told the Sun from Maine.
“[He] just made me believe in myself. … [He was] one of the most thoughtful, intellectual and interesting people I’ve ever met,” she said.
“He was very kind but he was very opinionated and had very strong values by which he lived his life.”
Milligan, who grew up in Tucker, Georgia, was 18 years old when he was getting a haircut and discovered a photograph of Half Dome on the wall, according to SFGate.
He eventually relocated to Yosemite National Park, where he lived in a cave for 13 years while working for a cleaning business for 20 years.
According to the publication, he climbed the Normal Northwest Face of Half Dome 20 times and the Steck-Salathé route up Sentinel Rock at least 275 times.
“You feel like you’re in contact with God. It makes me feel like I’m in a magical place,” Milligan said in a 2021 interview.