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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jul 10, 2014 - 09:00pm PT
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pacarockhound,
That link to the Rettenbachers is a good read. I have walked right by there without noticing.
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pacarockhound
Social climber
Escondido CA
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Jul 11, 2014 - 07:23pm PT
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I meant to include this: the definitive (and much longer)story of the Rettenbachers!
http://highwire.stanford.edu/~galic/stanford/rettenbacher/intro.html
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kenish
Gym climber
Orange County, CA
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Jul 14, 2014 - 10:16pm PT
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I am in complete awe of Cragman, friends and family of Matt, and everyone else who is unrelenting in their search even at risk and expense to their safety and spirit.
On a pragmatic note (with apologies if this dredges any bad stuff up or I'm being "keyboard quarterback")....last summer a retired police officer noted a person in the Minden area who loosely fit Matt's description. But like every other frustrating lead, it evaporated into thin air like Matt has. Several weeks ago, a road crew found remains off the highway at Spooner Summit in the Tahoe area. That's not far from Minden, and 2 hours' drive from Mammoth. A recent post mentioned this. Has anyone followed up with the Medical Examiner's office up there? Since family is in the area right now it could expedite or assist in the ME's investigation.
The backcountry search is focusing on Cragman and others' keen instinct on where Matt was most likely to hike and climb, much like Clyde's instincts 80 years ago. Certainly that should continue but what if he's not in the Mammoth area at all? I recall some scenarios were explored and ruled out, but it's a big world......
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LAhiker
Social climber
Los Angeles
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Jul 14, 2014 - 11:25pm PT
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Kenish said:
On a pragmatic note (with apologies if this dredges any bad stuff up or I'm being "keyboard quarterback")....last summer a retired police officer noted a person in the Minden area who loosely fit Matt's description. But like every other frustrating lead, it evaporated into thin air like Matt has. Several weeks ago, a road crew found remains off the highway at Spooner Summit in the Tahoe area. That's not far from Minden, and 2 hours' drive from Mammoth. A recent post mentioned this. Has anyone followed up with the Medical Examiner's office up there? Since family is in the area right now it could expedite or assist in the ME's investigation.
Kenish, I agree with your general point that though an accident in the Ritter Range is likely, other scenarios are possible. However, with respect to the remains found at Spooner Summit, Tiffany has told me that they did follow up with the Medical Examiner, and the remains were not Matt's. I think she found out just before leaving for Mammoth.
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crankster
Trad climber
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Jul 15, 2014 - 06:50am PT
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Wow, that's a great lead. Are there any more details of the conversation you can provide?
That narrows the search area considerably,
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crankster
Trad climber
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Jul 15, 2014 - 09:09am PT
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I'm eager to hear. "The Minaret's"; very specific, as opposed to saying Mt. Ritter or Banner...
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tdg119
Social climber
Northampton, PA
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Jul 15, 2014 - 09:13am PT
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Supposedly there are other campers expected who will be following up as well. Any bit of extra info helps. Nice to know our perseverance with posters and Facebook are not in vain.
Fingers crossed for more leads ...
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crankster
Trad climber
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Jul 15, 2014 - 09:29am PT
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Yes, fingers crossed. The climbing community is fairly small and it's easy for us to think that every climber or back-country hiker would tune into this forum, but that's obviously not the case.
Again, I hope for closure soon for Matthew's family's sake.
And not to get too far ahead here, but I would be curious if these new developments might initiate a formal search. I'm sure Chief Watson has/is being updated.
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Psilocyborg
climber
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Jul 15, 2014 - 10:31am PT
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South notch=crampons
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kenish
Gym climber
Orange County, CA
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Jul 15, 2014 - 11:38am PT
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Thank you for the update/follow up on Spooner Summit.
It doesn't surprise me that many are unaware of Matt's disappearance. Myself for example; I visit Mammoth 1-2x every summer to go mountain biking and hiking. Although I'm very net-savvy and spend way too much time online, I was only aware of Matt's disappearance through the Mammoth Times website. That piqued my interest and led to the FB page and then to this forum. So most visitors to Mammoth who sightsee, fish, bike, tailgate camp, etc. are presumably unaware of the search and may have interacted with Matt since he seemed to make an impression upon everyone he met. So the effort to refresh posters in the area is spot on!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jul 15, 2014 - 12:15pm PT
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The term "Minarets" is often extended to include Ritter and Banner.
Ritter gets a lot of traffic by the SE glacier/gully. Banner not so much.
I believe the high bowl/snowfield and Ritter - Banner Saddle between them is not often visited.
From Mountain Project
lots of snow/ice leading up to Ritter/Banner saddle and lots of loose rock in the chute Sounds like Matthew's idea of a grand day out.
2008 (a big snow year) photos here:
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/north-face/105810186
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crusher
climber
Santa Monica, CA
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Jul 15, 2014 - 12:35pm PT
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Wow...just goes to show you can't put up enough posters in enough places or spread the word far enough. Or let up for that matter. Amazing luck that these same folks came back this year and to Shady Rest again.
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CCT
Trad climber
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Jul 15, 2014 - 02:24pm PT
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This is not to say that it's not worth looking again, but the saddle between Ritter and Banner does get climbed frequently. We were up there a few weeks after Matt's disappearance last year, and climbed Banner from the saddle. Crampons and ice-axe were needed only for a few hundred feet, and maybe not even that for a sure-footed person. We saw no sign of Matt. We also met a man who "skied" the short snowfield that same weekend; to give you a sense of how small it was, at most he got 3-4 turns.
Of course, there is a large talus field at the base of the snow hike, and we did not look behind every boulder. Nor did we peer into every part of the moat between the snow and the rock.
Best of luck to any searchers!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Jul 15, 2014 - 11:10pm PT
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... there is a large talus field at the base of the snow hike, and we did not look behind every boulder. Nor did we peer into every part of the moat between the snow and the rock.
Could be a good area for Cragman et al to work.
Otherwise, it seems most likely the remains will ultimately be discovered by a random person who gets off route, or retreats from something, on a path almost never trodden.
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crankster
Trad climber
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Jul 16, 2014 - 07:03am PT
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Wow, that's huge. If it's a Petzl Quark he can't be far away from the find.
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dit
Mountain climber
eastside
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Jul 16, 2014 - 09:06am PT
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"I'm working on tracking down a subject who came out of the backcountry and reported that he and his partner found a broken ice axe shaft with the head missing.......in the Minarets.
Just saying; if it's an old Chounard northwall hammer (wood shaft) in the vicinity of Michael Minaret, it's mine.
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Jul 16, 2014 - 01:48pm PT
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Good to say that he is not forgotten.
We have our own missing climber to find from one year ago. As soon as the snow retreats a bit more, we are planning a multi-agnecy search-a-thon. I have been out officially for this person several days, and have kept my eyes open on all my training days on the mountain thus far this year. FOr clarity's sake, I was not "misplaced" but merely expanding my serach paraeters during my bushwahacking espeditions this season.
Every year we do at least one "cold case" as a good exercise and occasionally with some success.
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LAhiker
Social climber
Los Angeles
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Jul 16, 2014 - 03:20pm PT
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I'm glad there have been some leads! While we're waiting for more info re the ice axe handle, here's a compilation of info and some questions re the Minarets.*
According to SplitPants's very helpful timeline, Matt climbed Riegelhuth Minaret on 7/8/13 and Clyde Minaret on 7/11/13 (this one confirmed by his signature in the summit register). Given that Matt tended not to repeat climbs, I suspect that neither of those Minarets was his objective on 7/17/13.
There has been some discussion on this thread about what Minarets might fit with Matt's gear -- the ice axe/crampons and the absence of his helmet. In this post, HighTraverse says the following:
South Notch itself, Kehrlein and Starr can all be done "safely" sans helmet. With axe and crampons, chance of taking a big fall on South Notch is very small. There are "walkup" class 3-4 routes with no snow on Starr, Adams and Kehrlein that also wouldn't turn Matt back if he had no helmet.
HighTraverse also comments on a report by someone climbed the NW route on Kehrlein (among many other things) in mid-August of last summer, though the guy wasn't looking for Matt.
Harv Galic posted this slightly alarming account of climbing to Starr Minaret a little later in the summer, on July 31, 2013 -- he found the South Notch difficult to negotiate and reports a little flood on the snowfield. (Fits with what Ron Anderson said about the Minarets being dicey.)
I don't think it's known whether Matt climbed Michael Minaret, but the summary site reports that Teddy found that his signature was not in the register at the plaque honoring Walter "Pete" Starr. I gather that the plaque is some ways from Starr's gravesite, leading HighTraverse to ask
What's the chance he went to NW face of Michael Minaret to look for Peter Starr's resting place?
Would Matt's lack of a helmet (coupled with his tendency to wear one when appropriate) have made it unlikely that he attempted to look for Pete Starr's grave on 7/17/13, or is that still a possibility?
Harv Galic's report mentions that there was no summit register on Starr Minaret. Does anyone happen to know whether there are registers on Kehrlein or Adams Minaret, and whether those were checked last year? Are there other Minarets or routes up them that might fit with Matt's gear?
I gather that the two main routes to the Minarets are from Agnew Meadows and from Devil's Postpile. (So would a person going to the Minarets and taking the shuttle get out at one of those two stops?) If Matt's destination was the South Notch, is one of these routes more likely than the other? (Are there other areas within the Minarets besides the South Notch that would require an ice axe and crampons?)
*I'm focusing on the Minarets proper despite HighTraverse's interesting point that people sometimes refer to the Minarets, Ritter, & Banner as "the Minarets." At least in Matt's conversations with the Morales family, it sounds to me as if he referred to these locations separately; maybe Jill and John can clarify whether he was likely to lump them.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Jul 16, 2014 - 03:42pm PT
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If it's this one, it's not a petzle quark
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Jul 16, 2014 - 04:30pm PT
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My friends took the pic on Rock Route last summer, about a week or so after Matthew Greene went missing, and the handle looked like it had been there for much longer.
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