A Utah teenager fell about 30 toes to her dying whereas mountaineering at Kane Creek Canyon on Friday afternoon, in keeping with a information launch from the Moab Metropolis Police Division.
The 17-year-old lady, recognized by officers and a beloved one as Zoe Afton McKinney, was mountaineering the Moab Rim Path in east Utah with a gaggle of her buddies when she slipped and fell “off of a sheer cliff face,” police mentioned.
Her buddies known as 911 and tried to get to the 17-year-old however have been unable to take action safely.
Police, together with different legislation enforcement items, responded to the scene and have been capable of get to the sufferer utilizing harnesses and climbing gear. They discovered the sufferer “deceased from the autumn,” police mentioned.
The Grand County College District, the place McKinney went to high school, issued a press release on {the teenager}’s passing on Friday.
“The varsity group is grieving with Zoe’s household and can present love and help in any approach we will, together with having therapists accessible at college on Monday,” the assertion learn. “Zoe was a outstanding scholar and we’ll honor her reminiscence all through the rest of this senior yr.”
Lloyd Gist, 18, had been relationship McKinney for nearly a yr when she died. Gist was in Salt Lake Metropolis when he came upon his girlfriend had died.
“She had the brightest smile,” Gist advised NBC Information. “She was simply the sweetest — if anybody requested her to do something she can be leaping on it immediately.”
McKinney was one of many first folks to talk to Gist when he moved to Moab nearly two years in the past, he mentioned.
“She complimented me on my beanie, after which the subsequent day in school we began speaking,” he mentioned. “Then we began hanging out nearly daily. She confirmed me round city and launched me to her buddies, who grew to become my buddies.”
After they began relationship, McKinney, a cheerleader, was at all times entrance and middle in any respect of Gist’s soccer video games.

Gist says McKinney was small in stature however “she by no means let her dimension cease her.”
“She would discover a approach round folks in the event that they advised her no,” Gist mentioned. “She beloved dust biking. She was small and her toes would not contact the bottom, however she might experience a big dust bike and be completely fantastic on it.”
Gist and McKinney had plans to begin residing collectively after they completed highschool this summer time. McKinney had desires of turning into an EMT.
“We have been inseparable,” Gist mentioned. “If you happen to could not discover me, you known as Zoe as a result of I used to be together with her.”