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A young Alaskan social media climber has passed away after plummeting from El Capitan, a renowned granite cliff in the state of California's Yosemite National Park.

The 23-year-old climber, 23, was live-streamed on TikTok climbing up and then falling from the massive rock on midweek.

Through a heartfelt social media post confirming her child's passing, his mother said: "My heart is broken in a million pieces. I don't know how I will survive this. I adored him deeply. I want to wake up from this awful nightmare."

Circumstances of the Tragedy

Details of what caused the incident are not clear, but his sibling a family member revealed he was engaging in solo climbing with a rope - a method that enables solo ascents while still protected by a safety line - on a 2,400ft route called Sea of Dreams.

He had finished the ascent and was retrieving equipment when he likely descended past the end of his line, according to his brother.

Tom Evans who observed Miller fall said he called 911 after the climber tried to free his bag, which was snagged on a rock.

Climbing History of the Adventurer

Hailing from Alaska, Miller grew up ascending peaks with his father and brother.

He was an skilled mountaineer and gained global recognition for claiming the initial solo climb of Denali's Slovak Direct, which took him over two days to finish, as mentioned in a update on his Instagram in June.

"He's had likely among the most remarkable last six months of alpinism of any climber I can recall," veteran alpinist a climbing expert informed a publication in mid-summer.

A second renowned mountaineer from Alaska Mark Westman likened him to Alex Honnold, who was the initial individual to climb without ropes a full route on El Capitan.

Recent Achievements and Nickname

Miller had devoted several weeks solo climbing in Patagonia and the Canadian mountain range, completing a extremely challenging ice climb called Reality Bath, which had been not duplicated for over three decades, as reported by a climbing publication.

He was known fondly as the "Guy with the Orange Tent", due to his distinctive campsite at the bottom of the rock face.

The Granite Monolith and Yosemite Safety Record

El Capitan, an enormous vertical granite wall of roughly 915 meters, is a significant landmark in the park and attracts elite climbers from all over the world.

This tragedy marks the third fatality at the Californian park this year. In June, an teenager from the southern state died in the park while ascending unroped on a separate rock.

And in late summer, a young adult hiker died after being struck in the skull by a sizeable falling limb.

Official Response

The National Park Service stated in a release that they were investigating the incident and "officials and first responders responded immediately."