Mount Whitney hiker who forged on after friend turned back is found dead

Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times on Jan 22, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — Another hiker has died while attempting to summit the highest peak in the contiguous U.S., marking the third reported death on Mount Whitney this season.

The hiker was reported missing Monday after failing to descend the mountain and reunite with a hiking companion, who had decided the prior afternoon to turn around early due to safety concerns, according a post from Inyo County Search & Rescue. The hiker who was later found dead had decided Sunday afternoon to continue onward alone.

A rescue team located the hiker during an aerial search, recovering the body from the north face of Mount Whitney, below the notorious "final 400" stretch, a dangerously steep chute along the route that is particularly challenging to navigate in the winter months.

Search & Rescue officials did not release the identity of the hiker who was found dead. But the team did use the tragedy to remind hikers of the inherent dangers of climbing Mount Whitney — or any other steep peak — this time of year.

"This incident, along with recent fatalities on Mount Whitney and Mount Baldy, serves as a reminder that winter ascents are serious mountaineering endeavors, not hikes. Winter conditions leave little margin for error, and the consequences can be severe," officials wrote in the social media post. "If someone in your group expresses safety concerns, those concerns should be taken seriously."

Local officials have grown increasingly wary of unprepared and inexperienced hikers setting out on some of the toughest peaks during perilous conditions.

In December, the body of a 21-year-old hiker was recovered on Mount Whitney after weeks of an increasingly desperate search. That death came just months after a hiker fell to their death in October, following some of Mount Whitney's earliest snows of the season. Both were found on a difficult portion known as the 99 Switchbacks.

Several hikers have also died this winter attempting to summit Mount Baldy, the highest peak in Los Angeles County.

"Anyone attempting to climb Mount Whitney from this point on in the winter season should bring crampons — much larger spikes that attach firmly to mountaineering boots and dig deep into snow and ice to prevent falls — and an ice ax," the Search & Rescue officials wrote. "Experts also advise traveling in groups and bringing a satellite communication device to contact help if anything goes wrong."

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Times staff writer Jack Dolan contributed to this report.