Missing friend in Mammoth Lakes area

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TeddyKGBee

Trad climber

Chester Springs

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 17, 2013 - 12:18pm PT

Here is some search information:

Searched Areas:

North notch from Cecile lake

North east snow field up to notch

West side of notch and surrounding gullies

Climbed to south notch from Cecile lake

Traversed to amphitheater lake over Michael Adams saddle

Climbed amphitheater gully

Checked upper reaches of the 3 west shoots of micheal

Checked register at Star plaque

Cecile lake west shore and slopes

Slopes to the nw of iceberg lake

Iron Mountain

Climbs he did in prior days:

Unicorn peak

mammoth crest

Clyde minaret (verified with reg signature)

Dana couloir

north peak

palasades v notch-

reigeluth minaret

Gear he had with him:

Large pack, Nepal extreme boots and crampons

tdg119

Social climber

Northampton, PA

Aug 17, 2013 - 12:29pm PT

Per Jill: If Cragman means the glacier below the north notch, they did search that area.

HighTraverse

Trad climber

Bay Area

Aug 17, 2013 - 01:00pm PT

TomC
can you post a wide angle pic with the location of the orange object circled? From your written description I can't guess at the locale.
Cragman
Isn't that Clyde Minaret on the far left of your pic?

TomCochrane

Trad climber

Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay

Aug 17, 2013 - 01:15pm PT

the general area of the orange object (rock?) is the image i posted just above it...NE glacier below Banner Peak

it is roughly half way along the lower margin of the glacier in a darker area where water is draining from the glacier into a gully

we made multiple passes around the range

there are lots of people in the area

our current thinking is that someone was there during one of our passes, but not others

as cragman mentions, it is much easier to spot people on snowfields than on talus rock slopes

TomCochrane

Trad climber

Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay

Aug 17, 2013 - 01:32pm PT

i am sending an edited compilation of our search videos on Blue Ray disks to some of you

these are interesting to provide perspective on the search area and evaluate areas that have been searched, but are not sufficiently high res to spot people

we have about 100 gigs of RED RAW video which can be burned onto 5 Blue Ray disks

people who can edit/view these in Final Cut Pro and/or RED CineX Pro or Avid, etc. can request a copy for search analysis purposes

fluffy

Trad climber

Colorado

Aug 17, 2013 - 01:33pm PT

is thermal imaging available for your platform Tom?

HighTraverse

Trad climber

Bay Area

Aug 17, 2013 - 02:02pm PT

TeddyKGeeBee (Tom)
I'm glad you posted that list!
However some of the nomenclature is ambiguous. For instance, "North notch from Cecile lake" could mean 2 different routes that I know of, high and low, both steep.
Can you post a sketch or map link showing the locations/areas of the known searches?

Has anyone searched IN the creeks? Shadow Creek, Minaret Creek are both substantial in places. Under fallen logs and overhanging snags?

Checked Volcanic Ridge? More complex that it first appears.
Might he have taken a detour to explore Minaret Mine?
Even if an ice route in the Minarets/Ritter/Banner were his objective, the hike in has its own off route appeals and dangers.

I know you and Matt's other friends are doing all you can to find him. The more detail the rest of us have the more we can help.

HighTraverse

Trad climber

Bay Area

Aug 17, 2013 - 02:18pm PT

Cragman
I might be able to get out late this coming week for 3 or 4 days. Need to get into the high peaks anyway. Will keep you posted.

10b4me

Ice climber

Wishes-He-Was-In-Arizona

Aug 17, 2013 - 04:02pm PT

seems strange that if Matt wanted to get on some snow, he would choose the glacier below that aspect of Banner.

mattyj

Mountain climber

Truckee

Aug 17, 2013 - 04:27pm PT

Checking in from the trail via sketchy cell coverage. Was able to search the base of the slabs immediately downstream from the waterfall below shadow; likely no benefit in going back out there with ropes.

tdg119

Social climber

Northampton, PA

Aug 17, 2013 - 04:38pm PT

FWIW, I was told the crampons were borrowed; he had strap-on crampons in his own gear & borrowed his friends strep-in crampons. i Believe they belonged to the guy out there with the first week of July.

10b4me

Ice climber

Wishes-He-Was-In-Arizona

Aug 17, 2013 - 04:51pm PT

FWIW, I was told the crampons were borrowed; he had strap-on crampons in his own gear & borrowed his friends step-ins. Believe they belonged to the guy out there with the first week of July.

I hope they fit properly

TomCochrane

Trad climber

Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay

Aug 17, 2013 - 04:55pm PT

Thank you, mattyj!

10b4me

Ice climber

Wishes-He-Was-In-Arizona

Aug 17, 2013 - 05:45pm PT

he borrowed the strap-on crampons.

fwiw, I've found that strap on crampons to be problematic at times. On the other hand, step-in crampons, properly fitted, are pretty bomber.

cyberdee

Trad climber

Lynwood, CA

Aug 17, 2013 - 06:24pm PT

Just wondering, but has anyone tried a search/ scent dog? Even though it has been almost a month, trained dogs have had good results.

tdg119

Social climber

Northampton, PA

Aug 17, 2013 - 07:48pm PT

I asked about search dogs and was told between length of time passed, smoke from wildfire overriding scent, and difficulty of terrain they just wouldn't bring dogs in.

WBraun

climber

Aug 17, 2013 - 08:12pm PT

You need medicine man now.

Medicine man sits at point last seen and tries to connect with Matt's spirit soul.

Then will lead to his mortal body.

But only if allowed .......

TomCochrane

Trad climber

Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay

Aug 17, 2013 - 08:15pm PT

what WB said

meanwhile we are burning sets of five Blue Ray disks with 100 GB of RED RAW data for those who can work with it

we are also extracting still images for each of the major snowfields in the area of interest to post here and on Facebook as JPEGs for search coordination purposes

those with Aperture running on a Mac will be able to zoom into search detailed views of these still images if i send them to you as TIF files

tdg119

Social climber

Northampton, PA

Aug 17, 2013 - 11:24pm PT

Jill sent me the following msg - guess I'd been right the first time.

For cragman... John can't tell what that picture is to confirm if it was searched.
His crampons missing were john's step in, his strap ins were with his year. They fit fine, he climbed 3000 ft of ice with them this summer.