Hiker dies on slippery, snowy Mt. Whitney

Body was found in treacherous 99 Switchbacks’ section of a trail that became invisible’ after an intense storm, witnesses and authorities say

- BY JACK DOLAN

WEEKS INTO the snow season, slippery Mt. Whitney has claimed a life.

(ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times)

The return of snow has already claimed a life on the tallest mountain in the continental United States, with the death of a hiker on slippery Mt. Whitney, according to the Inyo County Sheriff's Office.

Over the weekend, the hiker fell in the notorious “99 Switchbacks” section of the main trail, said Lindsey Stine, community outreach coordinator for the Sheriff's Office. The switchbacks begin just above Trail Camp at almost 12,000 feet, where many hikers spend the night before making an early morning start for the 14,500-foot summit.

In the summer, when the trail is dry, the switchbacks section is a long slog, winding back and forth up two miles and nearly 2,000 vertical feet.

When it gets a big snow, as it did this month, the trail becomes buried and the whole slope becomes perilously steep.

Wes Ostgaard, who said he has climbed Mt. Whitney four times, posted on Facebook that conditions on Saturday were so treacherous he and his climbing partners decided to turn around.