Shepherd Pass: Deceased Hiker ID'ed

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maverick
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Shepherd Pass: Deceased Hiker ID'ed

Post by maverick »

Inyo County Sheriff's Office:

UPDATE on Shepherd Pass Recovery Mission

The deceased hiker that was located off the Shepherd Pass trail has been identified as 37-year old man, Kenneth Pledger, from Colorado City, AZ. At this time cause of death has not been determined.

On Monday May 18th, 2015 Inyo County Sheriff’s Dispatch received notification of a deceased person off the Shepherd Pass trail at about the 12,000' elevation level. The information shared with the Sheriff’s Office from the reporting party was that it was evident that the person had been deceased for some time.

Due to the demanding and steep terrain, it was determined that a helicopter recovery would be the safest mechanism to remove the body. Several attempts were made, but due to the recent storm activity in the High Sierra’s the recovery mission had to be held off until the morning of Wednesday May 27th. CHP Helicopter H-80 out of Apple Valley was utilized. Inyo SAR members were able to safely secure the remains for transport to the Lone Pine Airport where they were met by the Inyo County Coroner’s Office.

The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank CHP H-80 for their assistance, and the Inyo SAR volunteers.
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robertseeburger
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Re: Shepherd Pass: Deceased Hiker ID'ed

Post by robertseeburger »

I wonder if he slipped on the snowfield at the top and slid to death. It certainly has scared me to cross that one.
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Re: Shepherd Pass: Deceased Hiker ID'ed

Post by bagboy »

The description of where the body was found is near the lake at the top of the pass. He seems to have been right out in the flat, open area. It looks like those folks coming over the pass and veering around the edge of the lake towards Tyndall and Williamson and up that slope would've nearly walked right over top of this guy. And it's only 75 yards off the main trail. So I just can't imagine this guy was left over from the prime hiking season last year, because surely someone would've seen him. It makes more sense to me that he was either a very late season hiker last year or an early spring hiker this year. Those early spring storms could've covered him up for awhile. Who knows..... Bummer than nothing more seems to have been made known regarding his death.
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maverick
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Re: Shepherd Pass: Deceased Hiker ID'ed

Post by maverick »

Hi Bagboy,

Welcome to HST! Could very well be that they have not been able to ID him through DNA for some reason.
Please give us an intro: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9329
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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