A 53-year-old hiker who died after falling from a cliff while descending a California mountain had sent a final text message saying he was on his way down after reaching the summit, according to rescuers. Brian Seibert’s body was found more than 72 hours after he went missing during his descent from Mount Morgan, a 13,754-foot mountain in the Sierra Nevada range.
The initial search did not yield any clues about his whereabouts, leading the rescue team to widen the operation and bring in additional personnel and resources, the New York Post reported. Rescuers set up a base at a campground near the foot of Mount Morgan as teams began looking for the missing climber. The search team determined that Seibert had suffered a fatal fall from a cliff ledge at the base of Grand Central Couloir.
On Tuesday, October 6, an aircraft assisting with the search spotted what rescuers described as an ‘anomaly’ near the bottom of Grand Central Couloir, a steep gully on the eastern side of the mountain’s summit. “Just after 1400 hours [on Tuesday, Oct. 6], the Schooner crew identified an anomaly from the air near the bottom of Grand Central Couloir, which is a prominent east-facing gully off of the summit proper,” the rescue team said.
The search involved analysing photographs to match the mountain’s terrain, examining mobile phone data and using search dogs to inspect Seibert’s vehicle, according to an official statement. The difficult terrain prevented rescuers from recovering his body on Tuesday evening.
The Mono County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team said Seibert was reported missing on Monday, October 5, after he failed to return to his vehicle at the expected time.
