Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion SAR Operations

Operation 2011-18 (Rescue)
OES#2011-LAW-0362
20-21 November 2011
Mt. Whitney (Inyo County)
By Dave Miles
Summary:   Three (3) missing hikers on the Mt. Whitney trail.
Narrative:
On Sunday November 20, 2011 at 1520 I received a call from Sgt. Mark Baldwin. Inyo County was requesting our help to look for three (3) missing hikers on the Mt. Whitney Trail. We were to be in Lone Pine at 0700 the next morning. Sheila Rockwell coordinated the callout and Mary Schmierer helped call. Mike Myers, Dan Bishop, Tom Sakai, and Daryl Hinman committed to the search. I called Tim Winkler for details. The three hikers (all in their late 20's or early 30's) had attempted to day hike Mt. Whitney on Saturday. One of the hikers made a call to his mother at 0300 and again at 0812 on Sunday and requested a rescue. They could not find the trail during the night Saturday, and they were in whiteout conditions on Sunday. They reported their position as Trail Camp. Winkler also said that the helicopter would be arriving at 1000 so we should be in Lone Pine at 0830.

We met at the hut at 0700 Monday. With day hikers spending 2 nights in fresh snow, we took hypothermia and avalanche gear. We arrived in Lone Pine at 0830 and were briefed and assigned to teams. Three teams would be dropped off by the Chinook at Trail Camp. Each team was to clear their route and make their way down to Whitney Portal for pickup. We proceeded to the Lone Pine airport and prepared for the helicopter. There were three duffel bags with hypothermia gear for the hikers that would be dropped off by the Chinook if required. Clear skies made this the fastest way to get the gear to the team that found the hikers.

We lifted off at 1150. On the way to Trail Camp the three hikers were spotted on the move from their shelter at Consultation Lake. The Chinook made a few passes to clear a landing spot and then we landed and picked up the three hikers. They were cold and tired but uninjured. They had dug the snow out from under a boulder and built a snow wall. We returned to the Lone Pine Airport. The hikers were evaluated by the two ambulance crews and released. We had lunch with the Inyo SAR team and then returned to the hut at 1500.