Mount Whitney Death Trap, SAR Money Pit

14 September 2019 (15:05 UTC-07 Tango 06) 23 Shahrivar 1398/14 Muharram 1441/16 Gui-You 4717

California Army National Guard photo by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paul Mantiply, 25AUG2019.

It might look like Afghanistan, but it’s not.

Photo via Inyo County SAR, 25AUG2019.

On 25AUG2019 near Iceberg Lake, California, the National Guard’s Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, flew-in Inyo County SAR (Search And Rescue) crews, about 13-thousand-8-hundred feet up Mount Whitney, to rescue a wounded female hiker. She was injured when a boulder cut loose and wedged her in a crevice.

Photo via Inyo County SAR, 25AUG2019.

The Inyo County SAR crew had to hike up to where the hiker was, just 7-hundred feet short of the 14-thousand-505 feet (4421 meter) peak, because the CH-47F helicopter couldn’t fit in-between a crevasse: “We attempted to hoist her out, but we didn’t have the rotor clearance the first time. We were down to about ten feet between the blades and the granite.”: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paul Mantiply

Photo via Inyo County SAR, 25AUG2019.

The hiker was delivered to medical personnel at Bishop Airport, no word on her condition.

SAR ops are becoming so common place, across the U.S., and most SAR ops are paid for by taxpayers: “The United States Coast Guard is the leader in SAR operations, coming to the assistance of an average of 114 people per day at a total cost of $680 million annually…… It does not include man hours or money tied to the training of the personnel.

The National Park Service (NPS) is another agency heavily involved in SAR operations. In 2007, the NPS logged almost 3,600 incidents of search and rescue, 136 of which resulted in fatalities. This resulted in almost $5 million in associated expenses.

Other SAR missions around the Unites States are carried out by local sheriff’s offices, which are typically a mix of county employees working in concert with a staff of unpaid volunteers.”

In August 2018, mountaineering news outlet Outside declared Mount Whitney to be an “Overcrowded Catastrophe”, the author blames “Summit fever, a lack of mountaineering skills, and the allure of social media”, as well as weather conditions.

But Mount Whitney has a long history of injuries and deaths:

Inyo County SAR recent missions

June 2019; Body of missing hiker from Virginia found on Mt. Whitney

May 2019; Gonzaga leadership alums save hikers stranded overnight on California’s Mount Whitney

Mt Whitney Multiple Injuries June 11 2018

May 2018; Hiker, mountain climber fall to their deaths

July 2017; Mt Whitney SAR activity

August 2016; My Mt. Whitney day hike: up was easy; down … I’d rather not remember

This video from 2015 shows how easy it is to slip and fall;