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.

"This was his weekend camping with his boys," she said. He went on the yearly camping trip with his Thetha Delta Chi fraternity brothers, she said.

Relatives and close friends said the tragedy occurred Saturday about 3:30 p.m. Authorities could not be reached yesterday.

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.

In the past few years, a number of hikers have fallen to their death after being too close to the falls, according to information on the Forest Service Web site.

According to the Web site: "The terrain is extremely dangerous. The cliffs and paths near the stream are steep and the rocks are deceptively slippery."

Holly Slimak said the falls were one of her husband's favorite sites to get away from the city.

"We have pictures of us with the dog there," she said. "He loved it there."

She and Robert Slimak met seven years ago at VCU, when he was pursuing a degree in political science and she was pursuing a degree in education. The two married 2½ years ago and decided to stay in Richmond, she said.

Yesterday, relatives and friends remembered Robert Slimak as an articulate, intelligent and modest man who was an inventor and who remained very active in his college fraternity after he graduated.

"He was an inventor . . . he won several awards since high school," said his mother, Karen Slimak. "He had a lot going for him. He could do anything."

He helped create a treated lumber product that started as a high school science fair project, his mother said.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete, relatives said.