Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mount Whitney hiker missing for 3 weeks feared dea

I found this article nteresting and wanted to share.

https://www.sfgate.com/national-par...-hiker-3-weeks-winter-storm-21225959.php

paul

Sorry to hear about another...
Reminded me of the guy who spent the winter under the snow on the slope below Thor Peak...and the guy who took a fatal screamer off the south side cliff below LBSL (who was recovered within a few days...I saw the slide marks and the hole and reported it to Doug...)...


Off topic:
At the bottom of the article, there was a link to Wolves in CA...I'm still convinced that the animals I saw running on HM Road a few winters ago were wolves...they were way too big to be coyotes...I contacted the Wolf Guy from CDFW a while back, but got no response...Yowlumni Wolf Pack would be the only pack anywhere near, but is/was not the right size...

Thanks Paul we are well aware of the missing young man, we noticed a car in the lot as the storm was moving in, I had been to the Portal a few days before the 10 th of Nov. Myles and Trevor noticed the car the day before the system moved in and Cayden went up to shovel off the roof the a day or two after the storm . We called S&R reported the car snowed in the lower overflow parking lot , the system caused rock fall on the road so the lower gate was locked.

S&R told us a person had been reported in the snow. This was during the storm, aircraft couldn't search the area

S&R has flown the area many times and searched now Sad fact is the person is covered , the road is closed making a ground search very complex about a 10 mile hike to get to the search area. Our early hope was the person was in a tent that could be showing above the snow, he wasn't in a tent.

S&R has been in constant contact with the family updating with photos of the area where the person was sighted and making flights searching.

The area could be covered with 4-6 feet of drift , example during water turn on after a heavy snow year 5 of us shoveled for 3 hours in the area we knew the drain valve was within a 4 foot circle and water was flowing out of the snow bank we found the post marker several feet down but still couldn't find the valve till we followed the water flow. We have long probe bars , and tricks.


His family and friends are very distraught , we hope as the snow settles and not another system he can be recovered . These late season and early season hikes with warm weather at the lower elevation and summit reports of people summiting tend to create a very false reality.

Please hold this young man in your thoughts and planning and pray for his return to his family.

Another article, this from Backpacker Magazine:

"Mt. Whitney is Not a Casual Hike," Rescuers Warn After 1 Dead, 3 Saved From Icy Conditions.

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/mt-whitney-rescues/

paul

If nobody disagrees too vehemently, I'm going to publsh a map of Mobile Phone Service this summer...there really isn't a need to descend...one spot is the "lower" section of Trail Camp...I've sent plenty of texts and made phone calls from there...the Summit...the Switchbacks...the list goes on...definitely Not Outpost Camp...that would require a Beacon...and maybe, like on Everest these days, a beacon becomes a requirement...

Maybe the FS could put up a placard at the Trailhead...

And, a comment from the Peanut Gallery...This Is Getting Rediculous...

The situation with Joseph is very sad. I feel very sorry for his family. It breaks my heart.

I met him June 14 (his 5th try and first summit). He was very unaware of risk and reckless. I was descending toward the JMT junction and he was coming up. He had just climbed main trail snow chute with sneakers and bare hands on all fours. Some guy was pointing him out to me and commending him. I rolled my eyes and walked on. You can't teach people. That was the day he glissaded on his way down with nothing (youtube video is painful to watch).

I went up main trail on November 9th, 2 days before his Nov 11th hike. The snow on the chute was not ready. I only saw a couple people and tracks trying to go up the southern side of the chute and all of them bailed back to switchbacks. It was thin crust over variable depth powder drift with exposed rock everywhere. No one was descending the chute. It was not at all ready. There were no prints anywhere and absolutely no one trying glissading.

Guaranteed, he tried descending where he had gone down back in the spring from the Trail Crest low point. That side was still getting some sun mid day at that point so the crust definitely had random slick spots. He would have slipped on hard crust somewhere. For sure there were still no steps from any other people since I was there 2 days before. More snow had not fallen yet, it didn'teven look like a viable option. Then the big snow came and buried him.

It's unfortunate the narrative is "missing for a month". It gives false hope. He's not lost somewhere surviving on berries trying to hike out. He sadly perished back on the 11th.

I'd like to have a map of possible spots to communicate by cell phone. I'd think it would be quite helpful to have in my bag full of tricks for alternate means of communicating. As a solo backpacker, I do carry an iridium sat phone plus either a Spot or In-reach messenger with tracking turned on when I am out for days. I generally have been doing point to point travel of 5 to 9 days without resupply and no set schedule to end my hikes. It helps to be able to reach out for a ride at the end of my trip.

I've had mixed results using my cell phone (Sprint in the old days and AT&T now). In 2009 and 2010 Sprint worked great from on top of Whitney. Then it didn't. But, I could use it when I was coming down from Kearsarge pass to Onion Valley trailhead. But in more recent years AT&T has been really flaky. Similar results on top of Mt Baldy.

My Inmarsat phone works well as long as I'm not in canyons or under tree cover, but the user interface isn't great. I've been saying for over 20 years that I want to dump my satphone for something lighter, but still haven't done it and upgraded to newer model 10 years ago.

I haven't tried to use the Sat function for sending messages on my iPhone yet.

Spot has worked well for me in the western states and east coast, but has mostly never worked for me in Hawaii. Spot also doesn't work well in deep canyons or tree cover.

I've recently thought of carrying a small meshtastic radio / relay (using an alternate waveform for improved long range communication under adverse conditions) with me when loosely traveling with a friend. We hike at very different paces and hours. But generally we like to meet up in the evenings to camp in the same locations. On one occasion I missed his tent site (he needed to stop early) and I went miles beyond where I thought he we would stop. I was in heavy forest before I decided to try and check in. I found a small clearing and called his wife and gave her my lat/lon. She texted her husband via Inreach. Ultimately I figured out roughly where he was and backtracked to him.

While I don't need or depend on the technology to backpack, I have come to appreciate different aspects of these devices.

I've got an iPhone (eSIM only) and use US Mobile...works Internationally at a resonable price...
I "took over" my Parents number after my Mom passed away, so I have 2 numbers (5 if you count my foreign numbers...although thay can't all be active) on "Different Networks"...
I find that I have good service because of the switching that I can do,,,
And, as a Cheapskate, I'm not unhappy about my phone service fees...

The way I look at it, this could be set up as a Public Service Announcemen at the Trailhead...here's where you may get service in case of an emergency...


And a BTW...I once got a weird signal bounce that allowed me to send text messages from Rock Creek...
BTW2...you can look at my link below to my SPOT data...if you set the dates for a few months, you'll see the resutls of using it in Ladakh, Thailand, Nepal, Thailand...spotty at times, but I think it would work in an Emergency in any of those countries...

I agree on the phone locations But they can change: example Verizon re directed the signal to cover 395 some years ago and we lost signal in the Portal without a booster.

I made a rescue call from the area near the JMT junction , a young man came up to me and said I know you can help you are from the store I ask how he said his dad had a heart attack at the campground just before the junction , he also said the family doctor was with his dad . I said all I can do is try I climbed up the ridge and got a line of sight to the Valley and called dispatch , gave them the details they call the west side and had a rescue within minutes one of the fasted I recall,

On the switchback text have worked , just as you enter Trail camp area , above Lone PIne lake where the young man walked off this summer I have had coverage, and about 100 feet below the logs after. ( This is my go to location when we would hear of problems below Outpost camp) I could call Earlene /Dispatch with updates .

On the north fork E ledges at the crest just before LBS and I have had texts in the chute , but most often I turn the phone off so would think south side of the area around Upper would be a chance also .

I hear positive reports about the apple phone , but also think it requires some upgrade or service??????

I have the inreach for mapping and waypoints and sharing on google earth but never used the comms service but others say they can text and respond to messages That is the critical need the wwww who, what, when and where, this data can help S&R , what they may need to bring, maybe a walk out or carry or just wait for updates on the event.


I read a post from a group that covers lost hikers on the PCT that Inyo was planning on sending a GPR radar in today and do another search .


I also wonder about the small location devices that people put on cars if it would send a signal in the canyons , Seems like the products on the market now have tagging devices in the product .


Some thoughts Thanks

Elon and Jeff (B) need to get their LEO systems up-and-running for telecommunications...rather than just emergency texts...that will be a game-changer...we'd be able to toss the rest of the gear in the trash...

I have no idea how they'll get a receiver/transmitter to be that small...but they'll get it done...
Loads of people are carrying the mini StarLink antenna into the backcountry already...


BTW: I've posted to the board from UBSL and the Summit (and other places)...back in the day, that was a thing I loved to do (probably the 1st post from the Summit)...


Hope SAR gets it done...

Please wait for the press release for the final report. Inyo county sheriff's office report

This 2025 season was very tragic , I still see post of people going up and we are coming into the start of the normal winter season , same as Mount Baldy . No one sets out to have these events become fatal but a slip or fall and a minor injury can be life threating without a device to call for help or stay in a group for support with a system to contact rescue.

It should be very obvious the grief these event cause the family and friends and all the mountain family we share , when someone doesn't return it has a taken a toll on all, that person in some way is bound to all.

Mt. Whitney rescue team finds body that appears to be that of missing young hiker

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-15/mt-whitney-rescue-team-finds-body-missing-hiker

paul