INDEPENDENCE, Calif. (AP) — Two climbers reported missing this week on California’s towering Mount Whitney have been found dead, authorities said Thursday.
A friend who was with the hikers called authorities Tuesday night after they were unable to reach their campsite as planned, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The friend said the pair planned to ski or snowboard from the “notch,” a flat area where climbers often stop to rest, to their campsite at Upper Boy Scout Lake.
A helicopter crew and teams on the slopes began a search.
“Tragically, both hikers were later discovered deceased,” the sheriff’s statement said. Their identities were not immediately released.
Because the bodies were in neighboring Tulare County, the case is being handled by that county’s sheriff-coroner’s office.
Located in the central Sierra Nevada with a summit reaching 14,500 feet (4,420 meters), Mount Whitney is the highest point in the US outside of Alaska.
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