Chris Feher

For veteran rock climber Chris Feher, many of the routes up the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park were as familiar as they were challenging.

He had completed the roughly 4,800-foot climb more times than he could remember, either alone or in the company of others who shared his passion for vertical adventures.

On Sept. 14, he was climbing solo on a path known as the Slab Route when he fell 100 to 150 feet to his death. Hikers found his body at the foot of a cliff.

No one knows what caused the accident. One climber about a quarter-mile away said he heard a rock slide, but park rangers refused to identify that as a cause because Mr. Feher had been protected by a ledge above him that remained intact.

What is known is that Mr. Feher, 35, consistently used good judgment, along with the best climbing gear he could find or make. In addition to his mastery of Half Dome routes, he had climbed the sheer granite walls of El Capitan in Yosemite seven times.

" He was always really careful, very focused, " said Scott Wied, a friend. " He was in his element up there. That was what he loved, and he did it a lot. "

Mr. Feher, a mechanical engineer with a flair for artistic design, had built a climbing wall in the back yard of his Point Loma home.

To facilitate his longer climbs at destinations such as Yosemite and Joshua Tree National Park, he designed specialized equipment, including what he called a " porta-ledge " for sleeping on the side of a cliff.

He built his own kayak, in which he paddled around San Diego and Mission bays, and designed and built furniture. His parents have a coffee table he made with a mosaic of brightly colored tiles. Recently, he had been converting a former door into a computer desk.

He also had completed a metal sculpture and had created and laid ceramic tile.

" He always had been skillful in building and designing things, " said Melanie Nickel, a family friend. " He combined these two passions art and engineering to build things for himself and his friends. "

At the University of California Irvine, where he earned a bachelor ' s degree in mechanical engineering in 1993, Mr. Feher developed another skill: gourmet cooking.

Influenced by an Asian roommate, he devised stir-fry dishes, hot and sour soups and exotic sauces that his family and guests raved about. " It was a treat to go home for lunch for his cooking, " said his father, Bela, who works near the family home.

Mr. Feher, known to family and friends as Chris, was born Bela Christopher Feher on Aug. 4, 1970, in Ann Arbor, Mich.

At age 3, he moved with is family to Point Loma when his father ' s civilian job was relocated by the Navy. Mr. Feher attended Sunset View Elementary School, Correia Middle School and Point Loma High.

In high school, a seminar class in art history sparked an interest in art, which became his minor in college.

He joined the Cub Scouts in elementary school and advanced in his teens to Eagle Scout.

As a Boy Scout, he enjoyed hiking in the Grand Canyon and Sierras. Later, as an Eagle Scout, he joined an explorer troop in Ocean Beach and cultivated an interest in rock climbing.

" He studied rock-climbing magazines carefully and looked forward to visiting exotic places, " his father said. " One of his aspirations was ice climbing but he never had a chance to try it. It was something we didn ' t encourage; it scared us more than rock climbing. "

As a mechanical engineer, Mr. Feher once worked for Joe Lones, who had been one of his Cub Scouts leaders.

" Chris was a very conscientious, eager fellow, " Lones said. " He was a brilliant, promising young man. "

Mr. Feher accompanied Lones to Hermosillo, Mexico, on a project for Ford Motor Co. involving headlamp alignment. He later worked for a small San Diego-area company before being laid off, his father said.

Without steady employment, Mr. Feher indulged his wanderlust by traveling to Australia, Greece and Poland.

Authorities said Feher ' s death was the first for a rock climber in Yosemite this year and the sixth accidental death a category that covers falls and hiking accidents.

Survivors include his parents, Janice and Bela Feher of Point Loma; and his sister, Nicole Bodden of San Diego.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, 329 Date St., San Diego.