Mountaineer’s Route Broken Leg

In the late afternoon of August 24, 2019, a 27-year-old female was descending the Mountaineer’s Gully on Mt. Whitney after summiting the peak via the same route with her climbing party. At about 13,900 feet, near the top of the gully, the female dislodged an approximately 2,000-pound, three-foot-diameter boulder which rolled over her entire body, […]

Palisade Glacier Fatality

On August 23, 2019, a party of four climbers were attempting to ascend Mt. Sill in the Palisade Range of California’s Sierra Nevada via an unknown route (possibly the North Couloir). The climbers got off-route on the upper section of the climb and were descending a short distance to reassess when a large block fell […]

E-Ledges Tumble

Around 8:00pm on August 1, Sheriff’s Dispatch received a call for a subject who had taken a tumbling fall down the Eberbacher Ledges on the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek, the trail that accesses the Mountaineer’s Route on Mt. Whitney. The subject, an experienced hiker who had summited Whitney multiple times, took a small […]

Powell Search

GRANDVIEW CAMPGROUND, CA. July 15, 2019 – On day four of a massive multiagency search, missing hiker Sheryl Powell was located alive by ground search team members near the Montenegro Springs area (below where her dog was located earlier that same day). Powell and her small 5-pound dog were reported missing by her husband on […]

Injured Hiker, Mt. Whitney

Inyo County Sheriff’s Office received notification of a hiker that was injured glissading from the Trail Crest. The hiker found refuge at the camp until H-80 arrived. She was taken to a local airport where emergency medical services was standing by.