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.
Found the following link, and it was supposed to snow on 11/9, 76% chance, and 26F, he could have changed his mind, and set out for an alternate location, or possibly there could be foul play involved. Trying to get clarification from the family on what Mike would have done in this situation. http://www.climbingweather.com/Californ ... 2015-11-05
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
If anyone would like to help, please dig up the webcam shots/video off the Whitney webcam for 11/9, so we can see the conditions that Mike saw that day. Thanks
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
Also, if anyone was out in the Whitney area, especially in the area in question, please post them here for reference, would like to see snow condition.
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
Fantastic Shawn, these are from the day before Michael would have headed up.
The Whitney webcam archive link is not working; maybe someone knows of another source.
Exactly, hope someone here knows someone who can access it, will call up there tomorrow.
Thanks again for the photo's!
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
To my unpracticed eye, it looks like there are some big clouds rolling by in the morning, but they're interspersed with blue sky. Don't know whether they plus the weather forecast (if he had it) would be enough to make Mike change his objective. In later morning it clears up a bit. Then at around 1pm, it gets very cloudy with what looks like intermittent snow, other precipitation, or fog. By evening it looks pretty socked in. If Mike did set out toward Irvine (or some other objective), I wonder whether he would have turned back or hunkered down when it clouded up. It looks like visibility would have been intermittently bad during the afternoon, which might have led him to become disoriented at some point.
Contacted Steve last night requesting the webcam footage, he sent it to me last night, it has been forwarded to Michaels parents.
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
I'm wondering -- have there been any new thoughts or information on where Meyers is likely to have gone -- for instance, about whether he is likely to have pursued his planned route to Mt. Irvine on 11/9 despite the weather forecast? Maverick and others, do you happen to know whether anyone saw or spoke with him?
I'm wondering -- does the Inyo County Sheriff's Dept have adequate resources for the search? I mean, presumably every search could use more resources, and one can't produce resources out of thin air. But I'm wondering whether some other SAR entities might be able to assist them, whether any training exercises could be deployed to the area, etc.
One thing that confused me is today's ABC7 story which says that the search might be hampered by bad weather this weekend. But the forecast seems pretty good for the weekend. Maybe ABC7 just got it wrong, or maybe when they spoke with Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze, the chance of of precipitation that is now expected midweek was expected this weekend... http://abc7.com/news/storm-in-sierras-m ... t/1093120/
Last edited by LAhiker on Fri Nov 20, 2015 7:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
LAhiker wrote:I'm wondering -- does the Inyo County Sheriff's Dept have adequate resources for the search? I mean, presumably every search could use more resources, and one can't produce resources out of thin air. But I'm wondering whether some other SAR entities might be able to assist them, whether any training exercises could be deployed to the area, etc.
I don't think any SAR has adequate resources for these searches, but they do their best. Inyo SAR is pretty active because of the number of hikers that get lost or injured and also very capable. I don't recall having outside agencies be involved in these searches, except for maybe in the Steve Fossett search and that was mainly because it involved so many potential counties (Mono, Madera, Mariposa/Yosemite, Tuolumne/Yosemite). He ended up being found by a hiker in a part of Madera County that is covered by Mono SAR.
Unfortunately, this type of case is the worst situation. There is pretty much no information (except for the car), like with Matt Greene and Larry Conn. It usually isn't SAR that finds them.
LAhiker wrote:
One thing that confused me is today's ABC7 story which says that the search might be hampered by bad weather this weekend. But the forecast seems pretty good for the weekend. Maybe ABC7 just got it wrong, or maybe when they spoke with Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze, the chance of of precipitation that is now expected midweek was expected this weekend... http://abc7.com/news/storm-in-sierras-m ... t/1093120/
Originally, there was supposed to be a storm this weekend. I know because I made it a point to get up here to Mammoth before the storm hit. It seems to have either been eliminated, or delayed until mid-week.
