Rescue crews searched Mt. Whitney on Saturday for a Texas man who went lacking this week whereas trying to summit the notoriously difficult peak in frigid and snowy circumstances.
Taylor Rodriguez, a 29-year-old from San Antonio, set out alone Monday, in response to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Workplace, regardless of trails slick with ice, an intimidating climate forecast and expertise that pals stated was restricted to an indoor climbing gymnasium.
The search continues on Mt. Whitney for lacking hiker Taylor Rodriguez, who’s described as 5 ft 9, weighing roughly 160 kilos, with brown hair and brown eyes. It’s believed he was trying to summit Mt. Whitney on Monday, when he went lacking.
(Inyo County Search & Rescue)
“Lots of us don’t perceive what made him get in his automotive, drive to Whitney and sort of do that on a whim,” stated household pal Susana Guerra, a veteran hiker who has climbed the mountain repeatedly. “He’s such a sensible child, actually sensible, and it’s exhausting to know what he was considering.”
Household and pals of Rodriguez contacted the sheriff Thursday after that they had not heard from him. Authorities situated the truck he drove from Texas in a parking zone close to the path entrance.
Volunteer groups from the Inyo County Search & Rescue have been searching for Rodriguez on the primary Mt. Whitney path and deliberate then to scour a tougher route often called the Mountaineer’s Path. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Lindsey Stine stated crews hoped to make use of a helicopter within the search, relying on wind circumstances.
Within the 5 days since Rodriguez disappeared, temperatures have fallen as little as the excessive teenagers at evening with wind gusts Friday of greater than 50 mph.
“At the moment, they’re nonetheless looking for him as if he’s alive,” Stine stated. “There have been individuals who have gone lacking who’ve managed to remain alive for days at a time.”
Mt. Whitney is the very best level within the U.S. outdoors Alaska at 14,405 ft. Within the hotter months, hikers have been identified to make the 20-mile round-trip journey some years in fleece jackets and climbing boots. It’s so standard between Could and November that some 100,000 individuals take part in an annual allow lottery.
Within the winter, it may be a vastly completely different story. Waist-deep snow, ice fields, avalanches and the chance of hypothermia and frostbite make the mountain a far riskier proposition. Those that do climb are usually veterans outfitted with crampons, ice axes, helmets, ropes and an intensive information of the route, stated Dave Miller, an expert mountain information who has summited Whitney 80 instances.
“Attempting to do it in the future within the wintertime can be reserved for extremely skilled individuals in all probability utilizing skis so they may get down faster,” Miller stated.
Rodriguez together with his canine Dutch in 2015.
(Melanie Jaramillo)
Rodriguez, who educated in petroleum engineering and development, had no backcountry expertise and started climbing at an indoor gymnasium solely in the previous couple of months, in response to individuals who knew him.
“He was actually good at looking. His household lives out on a ranch with cows. So outdoor, sure, however mountaineering… no,” stated Melanie Jaramillo, who dated Rodriguez in highschool and remained in contact with him.
It’s believed he headed out on the path at 1 a.m. that morning with plans to summit and return the identical day. It’s not clear whether or not he took crampons or different gear to navigate icy trails or how a lot analysis he had achieved in regards to the routes and circumstances.
Guerra, who’s Jaramillo’s sister, has summited Whitney eight instances and stated that even together with her understanding of the terrain, she needed to be rescued final spring. She stated it was tough to think about Rodriguez within the snow and darkish.
“He can’t have made it far,” she stated.
Jaramillo stated highschool pals, who knew him as a star soccer participant and scholar at Southwest Excessive College, are in a state of shock and unhappiness.
“This can be a man who wasn’t dumb,” she stated.
Rodriguez is 5 ft 9 and about 160 kilos. The sheriff’s division is asking hikers who encountered him on the path between Monday and Thursday or produce other data which may assist find him to name (760) 878-0383.
