On September 28, California’s Riverside County Fire Department announced that they received a report of two injured climbers near Tahquitz Rock in San Bernadino National Forest. Upon arrival, it was determined that both subjects had died at the scene. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department would later identify one of the deceased climbers as former NFL player Gavin Escobar.

Escobar played in the NFL as a tight end from 2013 to 2019 for a number of teams, mostly with the Dallas Cowboys. He was 31 when he died.

In recent months, Escobar had been working with Long Beach Fire Department. According to the department, Escobar leaves behind his wife and two young children.

ESPN identified the second victim as 33-year-old Chelsea Walsh.

It is unclear exactly what led to the fatal accident. According to an article from The Associated Press, some rain fell earlier in the day, but this has yet to be deemed a factor in the fall.

According to Mountain Project, Tahquitz Rock is primarily known for trad-style climbing, with routes stretching from one to seven pitches. The site lists 204 routes at the spot, with over 90 percent being ‘trad’ routes.

At this time, it has not been publicly stated what style of climbing the two were using when the accident occurred.

The website offers this description of the crag: “Please note this is a traditional crag and although sport routes do exist they are the exception. It’s important to keep in mind that even fully bolted routes requiring nothing more than quickdraws tend to be runout and somewhat serious leads.”

Condolences go out to those impacted by these deaths.

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