Body of missing hiker recovered from tallest mountain in Lower 48 after storms stall efforts

THE TAKEAWAY

• The hiker was reported missing by edifice unit aft failing to cheque retired and leaving belongings successful the room.
• Rescue efforts began connected October 20, but were stalled owed to a tempest that brought snowfall and hazardous upwind conditions to the area.
• The assemblage was located connected Mount Whitney successful California.

LONE PINE, Calif. — The assemblage of a missing hiker was recovered connected Mount Whitney, the tallest upland successful the Lower 48, by a chopper rescue team, the Inyo County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Officials said rescuers battled snow and crystal to retrieve the assemblage from a distant country Sunday aft storms delayed archetypal rescue attempts implicit a week from erstwhile the assemblage was archetypal located connected Oct. 20.

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FILE - Sierra Nevada from the Owens Valley. Mt. Whitney is the castellated highest conscionable close of center. 

(Photo by: Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The sheriff's bureau said the hiker was reported arsenic overdue by motel unit successful Lone Pine, California, connected Oct. 19 and were incapable to scope him done the department's Rapid Deploy messaging system, a 911 dispatch work that tin assistance find mislaid hikers erstwhile they person a cellphone.

According to the FOX Forecast Center, 2.47 inches of rainfall fell successful the country betwixt Oct. 18 and 19, with debased temperatures dropping to astir freezing.

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The sheriff's section said they were capable to find the hiker's conveyance connected Oct. 20 astatine the Whitney Portal, astir 13 miles eastbound of Lone Pine and 1 of the main trailheads for the mountain.

FILE - LONE PINE, CA - SEPTEMBER 22: General views of Mount Whitney, the highest upland successful the contiguous U.S., against the Alabama Hills stone formations, a wide country filming determination for hundreds of iconic Hollywood Western films and TV shows connected September 22, 2024 successful Lone Pine, California.  

((Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) / Getty Images)

A California Highway Patrol chopper recovered the assemblage aboriginal that time on the Mountaineer’s Route, but storms that moved into the country prevented betterment operations until Oct. 25.

A specialized region hunt and rescue squad had to hike successful from Iceberg Lake, battling icy conditions, to scope the body, which was recovered covered successful snow astatine an elevation of 13,600 feet.  The squad was met by a CHP helicopter, which airlifted the assemblage disconnected the mountain, portion the squad hiked backmost down the trail, officials said.

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The sheriff's section confirmed the hiker had obtained a licence to ascent the upland for Oct. 18.

LONE PINE, CA - MARCH 22: Lone Pine Peak, center, elevation 12,949 feet, and Mount Whitney, acold right, the highest upland successful the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 14,505 feet, are located connected the eastbound broadside of the Sierra Nevada upland range, shown from Whitney Portal Road, connected Wednesday, March 22, 2023 successful Lone Pine, CA. 

((Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) / Getty Images)

The hiker's individuality has not been released. 

Mount Whitney’s acme is 14,505 feet supra oversea level, according to the National Park Service.

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