Modesto teacher dies in Yosemite rock climbing accident

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Family and friends in Modesto remember a middle school teacher who died in a rock climbing accident inside Yosemite National Park.

Patricia Stoops, 57, died June 8 after suffering a blunt head injury.

She worked with special-needs children at Glick Middle School, but she was also an experienced and avid rock climber.

Stoops was leading a climbing group that included her boyfriend and three other people when she fell while rappelling off the central pillar of Frenzy, one of the most popular rock climbing lines inside the park.

The rock climbing community created a memorial page for Stoops on a website called Mountain Project.