201911.29
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Orange County rock climber Brad Gobright dies after fall in Mexico

by in News

A rock climber from Orange County who was well-known among his peers died Wednesday, Nov. 27, after falling about 985 feet in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, the state’s civil protection agency announced.

Brad Gobright, 31, was on El Sendero Luminoso when he fell to his death, the agency said. Rescuers retrieved his body Thursday.

  • In this Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019 handout photo released by Nuevo Leon State Civil Defense Agency, survivor Aidan Jacobson sits inside an ambulance after he was rescued after falling from the El Potrero Chico peak in Hidalgo, Mexico. Jacobson was climbing with California free solo climber Brad Gobright who died in the fall, civil defense officials in northern Mexico reported Thursday. (Nuevo Leon State Civil Defense Agency via AP)

  • This undated handout photo released by Nuevo Leon State Civil Defense Agency shows the El Potrero Chico peak in Hidalgo, Mexico. California free solo climber Brad Gobright was rappelling down with a companion when he fell to his death on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. (Nuevo Leon State Civil Defense Agency via AP)

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  • In this Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019 handout photo released by Nuevo Leon State Civil Defense Agency, survivor Aidan Jacobson sits inside an ambulance after he was rescued after falling from the El Potrero Chico peak in Hidalgo, Mexico. Jacobson was climbing with California free solo climber Brad Gobright who died in the fall, civil defense officials in northern Mexico reported Thursday. (Nuevo Leon State Civil Defense Agency via AP)

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They treated his climbing partner for injuries to his ankle and other parts of his body, CNN reported.

“(The agency) extends signs of support and solidarity to the rock-climbing community,” the agency said in a Facebook post about Gobright’s death.

Gobright was best known for free soloing, or climbing without any safety gear.

Climbing publication Rock and Ice called Gobright “one of the most accomplished free-solo climbers in the world.”

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These are some shots taken on the desert road trip I took last week. The trip was ten days long and we sampled different types of climbing. Long, short, winggate, solidified mud, exposed calcite, scary basalt. We climbed trad, sport and even bouldered. Some times it was very hot and other times it was very cold. We slept in the dirt, the back of vans and fancy hotel rooms. At times things got very chaotic but at other times it was calm and silent as I stared off into the vast openness. The trip wasn’t really about projecting and sending hard. It was more about getting variety in a relatively short amount of time. I hadn’t taken a trip like this in a really long time and it was actually a very refreshing experience. I’m teaming up with @gramicci_climb to make a short film about the trip. Pic 1: The Six Star Crack 📷 @tradisplaid Pic 2: Castleton Tower Pic 3: @alicehafer on Castleton Tower Pic 4: @maison.deschamps in The Fisher Towers Pic 5: 📷 @maison.deschamps Pic 6: Monument Valley. @evolv_worldwide @frictionlabs

A post shared by Brad Gobright (@bradgobright) on

In a 2017 profile, the publication said that Gobright grew up in Orange County; records show he’s a native of Orange. In 2017, he broke the speed-climbing record for the Nose route on Yosemite’s El Capitan, trekking the 3,000-foot path in 2 hours, 19 minutes and 44 seconds.

Like many others, famed climber Alex Honnold paid tribute to Gobright in a post on Instagram.

“He was such a warm, kind soul – one of a handful of partners that I always loved spending a day with,” the post reads. “So crushing. Brad was a real gem of a man. The climbing world lost a true light.”