Missing hikers found dead on California’s Mount Whitney

Authorities found the bodies of two hikers who had been reported missing on Mount Whitney, one of the tallest mountains in the U.S.

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A person who was hiking with the pair contacted the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to report that the hikers were overdue. Their companion said they had planned to ski or snowboard from a cliff known as the “Notch” to Upper Boy Scout Camp Lake, where they had set up a camp.

However, the pair never returned to their camp. Their companion contacted deputies after waiting at their campsite for hours, deputies said.

On Thursday, authorities said that the hikers had been found dead.

Deputies did not share more details on the circumstances of their deaths, though Zachary Davis, a flight officer and paramedic with the California Highway Patrol’s Inland Divisions Air Operations, told The Sacramento Bee that searchers found two “fall victims” on the north face of the mountain on Wednesday, at an elevation of 13,200 feet. The Notch has an elevation of 14,500 feet, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office identified the pair as Andrew Niziol, 28, and Patty Bolan, 29, according to the Bee. Niziol lived in South Lake Tahoe and Bolan had recently completed her doctoral studies in physics at UC Davis, the newspaper reported.

Their deaths are the first on the mountain since October, according to the Bee. Tom Gerbier, a French national, died after falling about 1,000 feet off the Notch, the National Park Service said.

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