Mt. Whitney Search & Rescue Operation in Progress

[SEKI SAR]

Inyo County SAR and SEKI SAR are currently conducting an Search & Rescue Operation on Mt. Whitney. SAR teams are searching for 3 male individuals aged in their mid-forties that summited Mt. Whitney late Monday evening. Last contact with the party was at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday via text msg from the summit hut requesting assistance. Clothing and equipment descriptions are unknown at this time. Any hikers who may have seen or come into contact with this party are requested to contact SEKI SAR Incident Command at 559 565-3117, 3118, 3119 or 559 565-3188, 3189.

Any assistance in this incident is greatly appreciated.

SEKI SAR

[rlown]

Nice to have you aboard and broadcast SAR Ops.. Please give us an update on closure of the case..

[tomcat_rc]

reposted on the Whitney board

[Steve_C]

Also posted on WhitneyZone:

Whitney search and rescue in progress

[SEKI Public Affairs]

UPDATE:

See the three attached flyers for specific information and photos of the missing parties. Any hikers who may have seen or come in contact with any of the individuals should call the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Incident Command Post at 559-565-3117 or Inyo County at 760-873-2513.

Approximately 45 people have been assigned to the incident as of October 20. Search operations are being hampered by snowstorms with accumulations between 1-3 feet of new snow. Additional staff and a helicopter have been ordered in the hope that the weather will allow search operations to continue tomorrow.

[Steve_C]

They got em!

[maverick]

I'm glad they were found uninjured!

[SEKI Public Affairs]

See news release about additional missing hikers...

[BSquared]

Yet another good reason for getting a SPOT. You know, I think I've nearly convinced myself...

There's clearly another interesting story here, though (in addition to the story about the Nebraska climbers): what was their intended "cross-country loop?" What was their actual route? How did they manage to get to Road's End through all that snow? Hope more of this comes out!

[rlown]

Not sure a SPOT would have been any better then the cell phone they texted with.. But, It does depend on where you are and if you can still operate the device..

And why does the initial report say 3 missing hikers and the report out memo says 2?

Where there two incidents here? I'm almost thinking that SEKI SAR and SEKI public affairs are reporting different incidents..