Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Use this forum to stay informed on missing persons alerts, active SAR's and unfortunate hiker accidents we can all hopefully learn from. Any information you may have on a missing person, including first hand weather related information or any other insight (however little) may prove to be critical information to Law Enforcement / SAR in locating the person in question.
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tdavidock
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by tdavidock »

Details on Guidebook:

Secor 3 rd edition pages 369 to 398
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rlown
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by rlown »

Can you clarify what gear he actually had in his possession?
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by tdavidock »

Sure" Just for info sake, here is a complete overview with updated info:

Details of Matt's Disappearance

Overview:
Matt was hiking/climbing with some friends in the Mammoth Lakes region and staying at the Shady Rest campground. Prior to his disappearance he happened upon some car trouble (his Subaru blew a head gasket). Matt stayed behind while his car was repaired at the Norco Goodyear repair shop with plans to meet up with friends in CO down the line. His last known phone call was to the repair shop around 4:30 pm on July 16th, with some texts to said friend around 8-8:30 that same night. Additionally, his last use of credit cards was a purchase in mammoth lakes that same day.
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When Matt did not meet up with friends as planned, it was discovered that his car was waiting, fixed, for over a week and he had not returned to the campsite where his gear was and where he had been paying day-to-day in antipation of his car being ready on the 18th and moving on. Matt's friends called the MLPD, and Detective Hornbeck then called my parents. Matt's cell phone is dead and/or untraceable. It's also possible that it's damaged or he is just somewhere he can't get a signal; there is no way to tell. The last signal was traced to a cell phone tower on top of Mammoth Mountain that was pointing north towards the main ski area.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Matthew Greene is requested to contact the Mammoth Lakes Police Department at (760) 934-2011 or the Mono County Sheriff’s Office at (760) 932-7549 X17.

Description of Matt:
Matt is 39, approximately 5'11", 155 lb, with blondish/brown short hair and blue eyes. He had a blue hat, and was probably wearing a long sleeve shirt with a darker (green/black) short sleeve on top.

Gear:
He was carrying a large black/white backpack (pictured directly in back of his car in the picture), yellow LaSportiva Nepal Extremes boots, crampons, and one ice axe. He did not have his tent, bivvy, sleeping bag, stove, or green heavy jacket indicating he only expected to do a day hike.

Guidebook: Secor 3 rd edition (took pages 369 to 398)

Last known contacts:
His Father via phone: July 16th
Friend via text (no info): night of July 16th

Thinking of Matt's possible hikes/climbs:
According to his interest, proximity, and limited information and conversations that he had with others prior to his disappearance, the search has focused on the Mt Ritter and Banner area, Minaret's. OnJuly 11th, he climbed Clyde Minaret, the same day he talked to a local about Ritter, banner, and the cross country hike between Ediza, Iceberg, Cecile, and Minaret lake.

There was also reason to believe that he was interested in climbing Lyell, but that was put into question as to the feasibility of transportation to from Mammoth Lake at an early enough time to do it in one day.

Experience:
Matt was a very experienced climber, hiker, runner, and in very good shape. He'll get on 5.10 trad with a good partner he trusts, but would tone it down when climbing with someone new. He does not free solo as a habit, but is very comfortable on 4th and easy 5th class. He has climbed a few of the classic routes in Tuolumne (west crack, regular route) and a couple of routes in Yosemite around Bishop's Terrace. I believe he has been on tenaya, cathedral and conness in past years. Matt also has a lot of experience in the backcountry and on long hikes. A 30 mile day would be nothing for Matt to consider. He would feel comfortable doing most solo hikes/climbs in the park and surrounding areas.

Search efforts to date:
SAR was out on both Ritter and Banner last weekend as well as had a chopper that covered some of the snow fields for about 30 minutes. The registries for Ritter and Banner were not signed by Matt. Without more information, they couldn't proceed with further efforts. Additionally, to make things harder, the area that is suggested as a possibility is in another county jurisdiction, which makes organizing the search more challenging for allocating resources.

Right now, SAR has put together some flyers asking for anyone and everyone hiking and climbing in those areas to CHECK the registries. Please do so if you're out there and help spread the word. This will be posted at all major climber hangouts in the region, but please help to spread this via word of mouth. The focus areas is in the Minerats right now since the limited info suggests that more so than any other location. However, there is always the possibility of the wildcard and he jumped the YART and headed into the park.

All permit offices were checked and those with permits from the time frame before and after he was missing are being contacted. Matt was known to get an early start, so it's very possible that he could have been the 1st one on the trail.

In addition to the backcountry search, his credit cards, cell phone (which is dead) are being tracked.

Some of Matt's friends are heading out west this weekend to continue to search. If anyone is interested in helping, please let me know and I will get you the details as soon as I have them.

Other Resources:

1. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/findmattgreene" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2. Flickr Page with lots of photos: http://www.flickr.com/groups/findmattgreene/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
3. Flyer: http://socalcrisis.org/findmattgreene" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
4. Mono County Sheriff: http://www.monosheriff.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
5. And tons of news stories (google Matthew Greene, Missing)

INFO MAP:

Here is a map that catalogues the suggestions and some search efforts from this and other forums. I will try to add it as new info becomes available. Please provide suggestions for info to add.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit? ... AGPbbv8mwo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Alpineholydog
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by Alpineholydog »

Sounds like a true climber although might not have taken more than rope,crampons, boots and axe. If he was fascinated by earlier stories of the area look toward Michael Mineret and possibly approaches to Ritter Banner. The stories of Missing in Minerets as well as muir's stories of Ritter may have spoken to him as they did me when going out to the area. Lastly as a reach a check of Northern Glacier route up to lake Catherine could be possible if he looked up Rettemacher Grave site and shot for it in a day. . Kinda hiking tourist type climbs.
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kenish
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by kenish »

@tdavidock- Your update on the last cell phone "ping" being north of Mammoth Mtn. caught my eye. Was this the evening when the last texts were sent, or the next morning? FYI, there are 2 main built-up areas in Mammoth. The city of Mammoth Lakes and the "village" are where the campground, repair garage, and almost everything else are located. The Main Lodge and most of the ski slopes are 5 miles west of the city, a 20 minute drive up a winding state highway. It sounds like the last contact to a cell tower was at the ML area and not in town. In town and at the campground, there are much stronger and closer cell sites than the one on top of Mammoth Mtn.

It sounds like he spent the time and effort to go to the ML and ski area with some purpose. The choices of restaurants and stores are better back in town. YARTS starts at the Main Lodge (Adventure Center), then goes down the mountain through town and makes more stops. There would be no reason to go up to the ML in the morning...it would be backtracking.

In the morning, one Red's Meadow shuttle starts in town (the village area), goes up to the Main Lodge to pick up more passengers, then continues west over the crest and into a valley. Others start at ML. If the last phone trace was in the morning (especially around 715-730am) it suggests he may have been on the Red's Meadow shuttle and not YARTS.

If the phone trace was the afternoon before, he may have gone up there to buy a ticket for the first bus in the morning (I don't know if they allow advance purchases). Since there is lodging at the Main Lodge, he may have met a carpool/climbing partner and spent the night there to get a very early start...and not taken YARTS or the Red's Meadow shuttle at all. Or it may be as simple as going up to Main Lodge to sightsee or meet someone for dinner. But the last shuttles between ML and town are around 6pm.

I'm sure you, SAR, and MLPD have looked into all this...but it seems unusual to be in the Main Lodge area the evening before...also doesn't make sense to be at ML the next morning if he took YARTs. My comments are from going to Mammoth 2x every summer to mountain bike. A local may have more insight or corrections. Last thing, the Adventure Center at the ML is where shuttle tickets are sold. I recall they have a lot of security and monitoring cams...if so, Matt is probably in their video records if they haven't been overwritten.

Hope this helps, I'm sure you're being flooded with duplicate or unhelpful suggestions and I don't want to add to that.
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scrinch
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by scrinch »

Good points. The last stop for YARTS is at McDonald's which is practically across the street from Shady Rest. If he took YARTS his last cell phone ping should have been at that end of town (east). The Reds Meadows shuttle travels westerly around the north side of Mammoth Mountain, and the last cell phone reception is at Minaret Summit from that Mammoth Mtn tower. If the last ping was the morning of the 17th then he most likely was headed towards Reds/Agnew Meadows.
Last edited by scrinch on Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by lostcoyote »

:(

sorry to hear this news.
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by tdavidock »

SEARCH UPDATE:

Hi everyone- the Group is out in the back country as I type. there was no information from yesterday, but they do have the ability to communicate directly with SAR, so any information that they get can get radioed in.

I also heard that SAR had been EXTREMELY helpful and accommodating to this group- Thank you so much!!!

One team went out to Michael's Minaret yesterday, but couldn't get on top. They may try again today. There was also a report that the Clyde Minaret log was signed by Matt on July 11th, which indicates that he signing the logs, as he normally does.

I was also asked to post a request:

Is anyone planning to climb Michael's Minaret or others within the next few days? Also, any other beta is always welcomed. The feedback that everyone has provided thus far has definitely aided in the search.
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by atreehugger »

According to a post by Tikka on 8/15, on SUMMIT POST...

His name was NOT in the log book at summit of Mt. Ritter. via Ritter/Banner saddle. No sign of him in region - spoke with climbers from Clyde Variation, and Banner Peak, but NOT SE Glacier route (where previous accidents occurred).
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Re: Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes /Tuolumne area

Post by tdavidock »

Here is information on Matt's cell phone use from his sister- I know there were questions about this:

Matt's last calls were with my parents (3:20 PST) and the repair shop (4:29 & 4:35pm PST) on the 16th. Texting began at 6pm PST and ended at 11:34pm PST. The last text he received but did not answer was at 5:33 am PST on the 17th. I mention this because the phone records seem to indicate he was turning his phone off when not in use; which would mean he'd have to be up and turning his phone on at that time on the 17th. I am trying to confirm with Detective Hornbeck if the last ping traced was from his last call or that last text.

FWIW, we traced who sent that last txt message and made contact but unfortunately the individual does not remember what he'd said and it's no longer on his phone; we were kind of wondering if it's something that would have warranted a reply.For those wondering about the texts; discovered this is actually EST time. Texts night of 16th all w friends; everything AOK. Text @ 2:53 am most likely one from previous night but Matt's phone was off so when he turned it on he rec'd it. Best guess is he'd complained about ppl packing early am (4am) and it waking him up; maybe the case?! The last text was from an older fellow from a climbing gym here in PA; he can't remember what it was but probably insignificant and not warranting a response. Not sure if able to trace the text location wise; trying to get answer from detective = trying to pull teeth. Not real happy about what I've heard about Detective. I'd like to see how he'd react to his own family member in same situation...
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