Two people died after falling in separate incidents in Sequoia National Park over the weekend, according to the National Park Service.
On Friday afternoon, a group of climbers was descending the eastern slope of Mount Whitney when they passed a man who was climbing alone up the Mountaineer’s Route. The route — like the more commonly used trail to the 14,494-foot peak — starts at Whitney Portal, “but it is far more challenging,” the Park Service said in a statement.
Sometime later, the group saw a backpack fall and realized the man must have fallen.
Once they got cell reception, the group reported the incident to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office. It was too dark for investigators to do an aerial search that night, but early Saturday morning, searchers in a sheriff’s helicopter spotted the man’s body after about four hours, according to the Park Service.
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