An Arizona woman was killed when she fall from the cables that help hikers reach the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park/NPS file

An Arizona woman was killed when she fell from Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Park staff said Danielle Burnett, 29, of Lake Havasu City fell more than 500 feet down steep, rocky terrain just before noon on Thursday. She was deceased by the time rangers reached her, a park release said.

The incident remains under investigation and there is no further information available. 

Climbing Half Dome is highly popular but also extremely dangerous. The trail heads up a 600-foot stretch of slick granite that at points reaches a 45-degree angle. And for day hikers, that stretch is tackled after they've hiked half of the 14.2-mile roundtrip. Under a glaring sun, that alone can tax you.

Getting in line to tackle the final stretch, which the Park Service makes somewhat easier during the summer months by installing cables for handholds and two-by-fours as slight steps, you gaze up the steep pitch and the line of people in front of you and you feel a shiver down your spine and sweat forming in the palm of your hands, even with work gloves on to better grip the steel cables.

Earlier this year a study claimed that the permit system does not reduce the risk for hikers. While the permitting did reduce the overall number of hikers heading up Half Dome by 66 percent, there wasn't a corresponding decline in accidents, the researchers found.

Through the years, at least eight hikers have slipped and fallen to their deaths from Half Dome's shoulder. Most slipped and fell after, or during, rainstorms. Some suffered heart attacks. Back in 2007, a woman tried the hike before the cables had been installed. While she made it to the summit, she fell to her death on the way down.