Missing hiker died in fall on Mt. Whitney trail in California’s Sequoia National Park
The National Park Service on Friday confirmed the death of a hiker who had been missing since Wednesday while climbing Mount Whitney in California.
The man, a French national identified as Tom Gerbier, had planned a day-trip trek up the peak in Sequoia National Park and was reported missing after he failed to show up for his job as a pilot with Air France.
The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office did flyovers of the area Wednesday and sent a ground team in Thursday after finding clues that someone may have fallen off a cliff in the an area known as “The Notch.” According to a statement from the park service, air teams “located a motionless hiker with clothing matching the description provided.”
The hiker had fallen about 1,000 feet.
Mount Whitney is part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which spans 430 miles across eastern California. It is the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states with an elevation of 14,494 feet.
Hikers can take a 10.7-mile route up the mountain. This trek is the shortest and most popular hike to the summit, park officials said. Park officials advise climbers to use ice axes and crampons in the spring and early summer, but not in early October.
This fatality followed death in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks this year, according to the park service. In June, a climber died in an apparent fall near the border of Kings Canyon National Park and the John Muir Wilderness.
