Climber Balin Miller Died During an Excursion at Yosemite National Park

A climber known for scaling high peaks and sharing his progress and adventures on social media, Balin Miller, has died. According to a blog post on his family's outdoor supply store's website, the 23-year-old climber died during one of his excursions, this time at Yosemite National Park. But what happened to Balin Miller, and has a cause of death been released?

During his years as a climber who traveled to take on different challenges, Balin gained a social media following. He even had a brand deal on Instagram. He even earned the nickname of "Orange Tent Guy" because of his bright orange tent that he set up during his climbing trips. Now, many want to know what happened to him.

Per Balin's mother's blog post, he died while summiting El Capitan, a large rock formation at Yosemite. She wrote that "an accident occurred that took his life." She didn't provide further details, but with climbers, accidents can come in the form of slipping on a ledge, failing to properly clip a harness, or any number of other hazards.

Shortly after Balin's accident, a user on TikTok shared a video where he details seeing someone fall at Yosemite. He later confirmed in another video that it was Balin. In his initial video, though, the user provides more context about what he saw happen to Balin.

"He was trying to pull his bag up, and it got stuck, got stuck on a ledge," he explains. "So he went to rappel to go get it, and he f--king fell."

In Balin's mom's blog post, she wrote that Balin had a love for rock climbing from a young age, when his father taught him about it. Balin and his brother shared a love of climbing, and it was a passion that took them from summits in Alaska to other mountains across the country with packs on their backs.

"In Yosemite, he was chasing another dream — to lead a route he had long hoped to climb, preparing to meet family in the fall," she wrote.

Although Balin's family has not publicly shared his exact cause of death, it was likely an injury related to the fall. According to the Yosemite website, El Capitan stands at more than 3,000 feet, more than two times the height of the Empire State Building. The Guardian reported that most accidents related to climbing involve rappelling.

Yosemite photographer Tom Evans, who worked closely with Balin, posted about the accident on Facebook and shed more light on what happened and Balin's potential cause of death.

"His rope didn't reach the bag's location by many feet, but he seemed unaware of that fact," Tom wrote, in reference to Balin rappelling down to retrieve his bags from a ledge. "On the way down, he rappelled off the end of the rope."