Veteran San Diego climber Oscar Olea dies after fall at Mission Trails Regional Park
Oscar Olea, a veteran rock climber and mountaineer and fixture of San Diego’s climbing community, died April 10, 2025, from injuries he suffered in a fall at Mission Trails Regional Park.
The 71‑year‑old was free‑soloing a route on the park’s Climbers Loop late Monday morning when he slipped and plunged an estimated 40–50 feet, sustaining a catastrophic head injury.
Witness Kyle Heavey, a certified wilderness first responder teaching nearby, called 911 and helped stabilize Olea until San Diego Fire‑Rescue personnel arrived, according to San Diego Union Tribune. A rescue helicopter air‑lifted the injured climber to a hospital, where he remained on life support for several days before passing away.
Initial emergency dispatch reports listed the victim as a 65‑year‑old man, but friends later identified him as Olea and clarified his age. An accomplished climber of six decades’ experience, Olea was known to have completed the same route numerous times.
Olea climbed all over the world and the United States, including the Himalayas, European Alps, Yosemite, the Eastern Sierra, and Red Rocks in Nevada. He was in Nepal in 2015 when he and three other climbers were stranded during a major earthquake, including Kathleen “Kat” Heldman, one of Olea’s longtime climbing partners. Heldman said he often reminded her that if he ever died in the mountains, they should remember he was “doing what I love.”
