High Sierra Topix

Around 12:00 pm on Sunday, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office regarding a hiker (a man) who fell off some large boulders along the western slope of Mt. Humphreys (on the Fresno County side). Mt. Humphreys is just under 14,0000 ft. in elevation. A witness from a different hiking group was able to scale the granite slope and determine the man was deceased. This hiker, a man, made the report to the Inyo Co. Sheriff’s Office.

Our EAGLE One helicopter flew the area and was able to see the body a few hundred feet below the peak of the mountain.

Today we have our helicopter working with members of SAR (Search and Rescue) out at the scene to try and recover the body.

No further information on the deceased hiker is available at this time.

FSO Search and Rescue Team Work with California Air National Guard to Recover Body of Hiker

Members of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SAR) team have recovered the body of a man who fell while climbing Mount Humphreys. He has been identified as 52 year old Paul Sheykhzadeh of Reno. Sheykhzadeh worked as a doctor and volunteered as a SAR member for the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada.

Around 12:00 pm on Sunday, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office regarding a hiker, later identified as Paul Sheykhzadeh, who fell off some large boulders along the western slope of Mt. Humphreys (on the Fresno County side). Mt. Humphreys is just under 14,0000 ft. in elevation. A man with a different hiking group witnessed the fall and was able to scale the granite slope and determine the man was deceased. After the discovery, the hiker made a report to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s helicopter, EAGLE One, flew the area late in the day on Sunday and was able to see the body a few hundred feet below the peak of the mountain.

On Monday, SAR put together a plan to inserts themselves and extract Sheykhzadeh from the mountain. Due to the high elevation, a request was made to the California Air National Guard to use one of its CH-47 Chinook helicopters. A total of seven FSO SAR members were flown to the top of the mountain and then rappelled 370 feet down to Sheykhzadeh. They then hoisted his body up to the helicopter.

In honor of Sheykhzadeh’s service to Washoe County Search and Rescue, our team took an American flag with them and draped it over the victim at the recovery site.