5/22 Missing Person Alert

http://www.highsierratopix.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=15864&p=119032#p119032

Inyo County Search and Rescue (SAR) is on its second day of searching for missing hiker Dongying “Cindy” Qiu, a 27 year old woman from San Marino, CA. Cindy was part of a three-person hiking group that set out to hike Mt. Whitney on Sunday May 21st at 2:00am. After reaching Trail Crest (~13,700’ elevation) at approximately 1:00pm, she decided to head back to the trailhead at Whitney Portal alone. The original report indicated that the other two members of the hiking group went on to ascend Mt. Whitney, but later interviews revealed that one member of the hiking group (a female) turned around earlier in the hike before reaching Trail Crest. The male hiking companion did go on to ascend Mt. Whitney by himself, and when he returned to Whitney Portal around midnight, he was unable to locate Cindy. Inyo County Sheriff’s Dispatch was notified at approximately 9:00am on Monday May 22 of the missing hiker. 

 Following a lead from other hikers who believed they saw Cindy (descending the trail alone on Sunday late afternoon), Inyo County Search and Rescue and CHP H-80 out of Apple Valley began a search of the area between Trail Camp and Outpost Camp yesterday. A backpack matching the description of Cindy’s was located near Outpost Camp late yesterday afternoon. This morning additional teams are actively searching the area. Support for today’s search is provided by Sierra Madre SAR, San Bernardino SAR, China Lake Mountain Rescue Mountain Rescue Group, Inyo SAR and aerial support is provided by Army National Guard and CHP H-80.

 If anyone has any information that may assist in this search please contact Sheriff’s Dispatch as 760-878-0383.

shit :(

man what could happen to you at Outpost Camp that your pack would be left behind and you'd go missing... go off trail to poop and get completely lost? but you couldn't get that lost, the trail runs right through the valley along the river...

^^is the river big enough there that a fall in could be fatal?
edit: especially with the snowpack at record levels.

At noon today Dongying “Cindy” Qiu was located deceased at the base of a frozen waterfall near Outpost Camp. It is believed that she fell approximately 60 feet through a snow chute at the top of the waterfall (located on the southwest side of Outpost Camp, about a quarter mile off trail).
“This is an incredibly tragic situation and based on the extreme snow conditions in the backcountry, this could have happened to anyone,” stated Inyo County Sheriff’s Corporal Nick Vaughn. “The entire search crew and the Sheriff’s Office extend their most sincere condolences to the Qiu family and friends during this very difficult time.”
This was the second day of searching for the missing hiker. Support for today’s search was provided by Sierra Madre SAR, San Bernardino SAR, China Lake Mountain Rescue Mountain Rescue Group, Inyo SAR and aerial support provided by Army National Guard and CHP H-80.

That sucks  ! RIP

fuck

thanks for sharing maverick

condolences

Condolences to the Hikers family and friends. 

All be safe.

I followed this, hoping for a change that there'd be a favorable outcome - not to be. On FB I gave the advice that if you're a summer hiker you should stay away from the Sierra until later in the year; IMHO the Whitney Trail needs alpine gear, if you have a slip in the wrong place you'll be in trouble, possession of an ice-axe and knowledge of its use is mandatory. Crampons too if you're a pre-dawn person. The other advice I gave on FB was to never split your team up, no matter how tempting - it's something I've never done; even if I'm soloing something technical with a friend, if that friend says I'm heading down - I go too. The regret of not summiting is considerably less than the regret of losing a loved-one. My 10c.

ChelseaK wrote:

Why not give the mansplaining and victim-blaming a rest and respect the fact that a person has died? 

We're a community of risk takers, and analyzing things that went wrong for others helps us avoid the same mistakes.  Not really sure how you construed that comment as "mansplaining," but the climbing community will always seek to understand and learn after an accident.  Perhaps you can elaborate on how you were offended by any post in this topic.  

ChelseaK wrote:

Why not give the mansplaining and victim-blaming a rest and respect the fact that a person has died? 

Sad to see a story like this.  There's always something to be learned, and what Chris wrote appears to be (gender neutral) thoughtful advice that could prevent a similar accident.

ChelseaK wrote:

Why not give the mansplaining and victim-blaming a rest and respect the fact that a person has died? 

 I will Adult explain something to you:

Gender neutral examination of the circumstances leading to an accident are very appropriate but perhaps not always tactful in a thread announcing the accident.

We should  also all bear in mind that assigning blame to anyone should never be the intent, as so many factors come into play many of which we are not aware.

This is a tragedy and a terrible accident. I would think the ultimate respect we could give the victim is to learn from it and that seems to be the only intent here, though perhaps a dedicated thread (that likely would have few views) would be most appropriate. But is it really, when the target audience will never view it? 

Very hard to say.

My condolences to all involved, family and friends and the hardworking SAR community.

ChelseaK wrote:

Why not give the mansplaining and victim-blaming a rest and respect the fact that a person has died? 

I'm not sure if you're a troll or just from Berkeley.

ChelseaK wrote:

Why not give the mansplaining and victim-blaming a rest and respect the fact that a person has died? 

This is a climbing community page - discussing what could have been done to prevent this tragedy is appropriate. I'm very sensitive to people's losses. I am not prejudiced towards women - or view them as the weaker sex, any suggestion of this I consider to be misandrous, and therefore offensive.

I sent my condolences to those concerned and my thanks to the SAR folks who performed the recovery.

Pilot forums will pick apart an accident hours after the event in an effort to learn from their fallen friend's mistakes.  No difference here.