Grand Canyon hiker dies attempting to trek from south rim to north rim in single day
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 2 months ago
A Grand Canyon hiker has died while attempting to hike rim-to-rim in a single day at the national park.
Ranjith Varma — a 55-year-old man from Manassas, Virginia — was attempting to hike from the Grand Canyon’s south rim to the north rim in a single day on Saturday when the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received an emergency call at approximately 1:55 p.m. of a “hiker in distress” on the North Kaibab Trail, about one mile south of Cottonwood Campround, according to a statement released by the National Park Service (NPS) on Monday.
“For the hearty souls who are willing to work for it – less than one percent of the Grand Canyon’s five million annual visitors – the real magic lies below the rim,” the National Parks Foundation says on their website. “On this epic Grand Canyon hike, you’ll leave from the North Kaibab Trail on the North Rim, challenging your personal limits as you descend 14.3 miles and 6,000 feet to the bottom of the canyon before connecting with the Bright Angel Trail and climbing 4,500 feet and 9.6 miles back out again to the South Rim.”
That’s 23.9 miles and 10,500 feet of elevation change in a single day for a 55-year old man. I’m not sure I could have done that at 22 years old on a cool day. He was trying to do this on a hot day.
My bet is that he died from Rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo), which is a breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue that has to be processed by your kidneys. We’ve seen this before.
A man has got to know his limitations.
On September 12, 2023 at 10:41 pm, Frank Clarke said:
The Grand Canyon is only about 1 mile deep. How do they compute 14,000+ feet?
On September 12, 2023 at 10:42 pm, Frank Clarke said:
Never mind….
On September 13, 2023 at 1:13 am, Trumpeter said:
Or . . . he was vaxxed!
On September 13, 2023 at 5:58 am, Scott in Phx said:
That hike, while aggressive, is doable but this is the wrong time of yr to do it. The temp at the bottom of the canyon is about the same as PHX since both are near the same elevation and it’s hitting 100 or more still, if you are not a desert rat that is rough . I’ve hiked rim to rim on an overnight (spending the night at Phantom Ranch) in August so it was hot at the bottom. My wife has a girlfriend that has hiked it directly several times but not in the hot months. Oct or May would have been a better choice even for a desert rat.
On September 13, 2023 at 7:52 am, Frank Trappist said:
I’ve done Bright Angel down and back in one day… plus the extra walk to Phantom Ranch; I needed water and didn’t want river water.
It was August, and hot. But I was 21, even if out of shape. And I kissed the ground when I got out of that hole in the earth. In the dark, because the sun had already set.
Anyway, it was a tough day but doable. Rim to rim also doable I expect, for someone in shape and as others have pointed out, in cooler temps.
As the Park Service correctly describes: the best views ARE a few miles down the trail at least on the Bright Angel side– they’re right after Indian Gardens, where you start the switchbacks down that gorge. Decades ago, but I still remember. And the smell of the mules mashing me into the walls.
On September 13, 2023 at 10:36 pm, Miles said:
The reference to rhabdo brought back memories. In the latrines of my last unit, at average eye level on the wall above each and every urinal, was a color chart of darker and darker colors denoting levels of hydration right down to rhabdo and suggesting getting thee hence to the med shed.
On September 14, 2023 at 12:33 pm, 41mag said:
This is a commonly done activity in my state tho. Lots of folks do this successfully, some have done the two-fer…. rim-to-rim-to-rim even.
He was likely a newbie and not a native of Arizona. Just going for a short run while visiting out here can be a health hazard.