After 11-hour search, authorities find 2 hikers' bodies on Mount Whitney

Doug Cunningham
·1 min read
14
UPI
The Inyo County Sheriff's office said the bodies of two missing hikers who went missing Tuesday on Mount Whitney in California were found after an 11-hour search. Photo courtesy of Inyo County Sheriff's Office

May 10 (UPI) -- An 11-hour search succeeded in finding the bodies of two hikers who went missing Tuesday on Mount Whitney in California.

It's the tallest mountain in the Sierra Nevada.

The Inyo County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that "the hikers intended to descend to the "Notch" with the intention of skiing/snowboarding from the "Notch" back to Upper Boy Scout Lake where they had set up camp. Tragically, both hikers were later discovered deceased."

Foot teams and a helicopter searched the area.

Inyo County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Lindsey Stine told SFGate the mountain "definitely has its risks and there are always dangers that can present depending on the weather and the terrain."

The Tulare County Sheriff-Coroner's Office has not yet publicly identified the hikers. They're handling the investigation because the hikers' bodies were found in that county.

Mount Whitney is 14,500 feet high and is the eleventh highest in the country.

It has continued to experience bad weather into the spring and recently was hit with storms and snow.