Authorities said today it appears University of Michigan student Jillian Drow may have approached the edge of a ledge moments before she fell 80 feet to her death Tuesday in Grand Teton National Park near Jackson Hole, Wyo.

However, no one witnessed the fall, which occurred as Drow - a 21-year-old star athlete from Chelsea and incoming senior at U-M - was descending from the Middle Teton, a 12,804-foot peak in the Grand Teton range.

Jillian Drow, 21, died this week following a hiking accident in Grand Teton National Park near Jackson Hole, Wyo. The University of Michigan student and Chelsea resident had been taking a summer geology course in the area.

Photo courtesy of the Drow family

Drow was in the area for an upper-level geology course at the university’s Camp Davis Rocky Mountain Field Station. She was hiking and climbing with fellow students on her day off when the accident occurred.

Drow was not on vertical terrain when she fell, said Jackie Scaggs, a spokeswoman for the park. “They had completed the climb and were descending," she said. "It’s mostly a steep hike to get down off the mountain. We think she approached the edge."

Earlier, Drow and a male student had decided to summit the peak while the rest of the group of eight students and graduate instructors turned around to return to a base camp in Garnet Canyon, an area from which many hikers and climbers set out.

“She was described as very athletic and probably had the stamina, capability and interest to climb the Middle Teton,” Scaggs said of the former U-M diver, who was also an avid cyclist.

Others in the group of eight students didn't want to attempt it, Scaggs said.

Drow’s father, Mark Drow, said his daughter had climbing experience.

Drow got ahead of her climbing partner during the descent to the base camp in the canyon, which is at at an elevation of roughly 9,500 feet. After he lost sight of her, he assumed she had reached the base camp before him, Scaggs said.

When it became clear she was missing, her party’s group leader called park dispatchers by cell phone and set out to look for her. The party leader discovered her body and alerted dispatchers around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Park rangers set out on foot to reach the area and arrived at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, hiking to reach the group’s back-country camp in the canyon.

Six students hiked back to the valley floor in the early hours Wednesday, while the group leader stayed with her body to wait for the rangers. Park rangers recovered Drow’s body by helicopter later Wednesday morning.

The Middle Teton

Photo courtesy of Grand Teton National Park

Typically, one to three fatalities occur each year in the park. The park’s numerous peaks - 12 of them top 12,000 feet - and the many spires and pinnacles make it a coveted rock-climbing and hiking destination, Scaggs said.

“Climbing has its inherent risks,” Scaggs said.

Drow’s death preceded a second tragedy and the largest-scale evacuation the park had seen since the 1950s, Scaggs said. Shortly after Drow’s body was removed from the park Wednesday, a severe lightning storm hit the area and injured 16 individuals from three other climbing parties, who were evacuated via helicopter. 

They had been attempting to climb the Grand Teton. One person in their group went missing and was found dead the next day following an apparent 2,000-foot fall. Rangers discovered the body of Brandon Oldenkamp, 21, of Sanborn, Iowa, on Thursday. 

“We regret that both of these young people lost their lives within a day of each other,” Scaggs said.

Park rangers will continue the investigation into Drow's death, Scaggs said.

Juliana Keeping is a higher education reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter