Student dies after hiking fall

A law student at the University of Richmond died Saturday afternoon after he fell off a cliff during a hiking trip to the popular Crabtree Falls, relatives said yesterday.

Robert Slimak, 26, was on a weekend camping trip with a group of Virginia Commonwealth University alumni when he slid down a rock and fell about 150 feet, said his sister Katherin Crossling.

Slimak, a native of Northern Virginia, had lived in the Richmond area since he came to VCU for his undergraduate studies in 1999.

He later went to the University of Richmond to pursue a law degree and was to graduate in May, said his wife, Holly Slimak, 24.

Crabtree Falls, a popular hiking destination in Nelson County off state Route 56, about two hours from Richmond, is “the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River,“ according to the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the area.