Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Lost Backpack on backside of Whitney, MR

So my sister lost her Gregory Baltoro backpack along with all of her gear on the back side of Whitney after climbing the MR, but just below the last section (just after the "notch"). It fell down the long scree slope above Arctic Lake, just to the right by the two smaller lakes. Pretty much the whole way down.

I'm offering a pretty good reward if someone should find it. It has her REI 2 person tent, inflatable sleeping pad, clothes, (wag bag...God help you), and her eyeglasses.

If someone DOES find it, feel free to e-mail me at thespius19@hotmail.com

I've also notified the Ranger station already so they don't start searching for a body.

I'm sad that she lost her stuff and would like to get it back to her before she leaves to climb Kilimanjaro, though I'm glad I didn't lose HER. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Aww man! So sorry about the loss. I lost a Thermarest pad the same place.

I'll bet that pack and tent are too damaged, though, after the long slide and tumble.

Say... maybe you can get Thomas N to look for it if they take the advice to head over Whitney-Russell Pass.

Probably, but her glasses are in a hard case and her wallet is also in the pack. I'll bet there are other salvageable things as well (clothing, maps, compass, emergency gear, etc)

Either way, even if it's torn all to hell, I would like to get it back. AND it bugs me that we technically littered on the mountain.

Just wanted to bump this to keep it at the top of the page for a while.

I find it interesting the backpack fell all the way to the bottom. As you can see in this photo, below the notch there is a cliff area and then a long scree field down to the bottom. The backpack must have been traveling very fast to make it all the way to the bottom.
The red box is the bottom of the staircase chute, at the notch

The North side of Mt. Whitney.

http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewphoto.aspx?ID=52958

From near the summit crest of Mt. Whitney down toward the lakes.

http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewphoto.aspx?ID=52999

From what I gather, once it got going it sped up until if was sliding at quite a high rate of speed. I'm guessing the bag will probably be in pretty tattered shape, but I'm hoping some of the gear inside will be salvageable.

This is a pick of the pack on her back. I also forgot to mention that she had a pair of crampons clipped to the outside of the bag with carabiners in a yellow crampon bag.

Sounds like a job for Steve C.... If he can find a camera chip in a "haystack" (Half Dome), he can certainly find a backpack at the base of Whitney. Get on it Bro. Steve!

Yeah, I wish I could go. But my feet and legs are still recovering from last week's 100 mile JMT hike.

...But I think Bob R may be eying this job. If he goes, no doubt he'll find it.

What if, in addition to the reward, I threw in paying for you to go get a massage somewhere? That sure would help with the muscle recovery.

I am betting on Moosie to the rescue. Dah ta dah

I won't keep you in suspense. I had hoped to look for it tomorrow, but I am needed for a critical issue at work. (Kills me to say that!) And what with family plans for the weekend, followed by an eight-day trip to the Kaweahs, followed by..., my earliest next chance is ~the 23rd.

Hopefully, someone will be able to help you out before then. When does your sister leave for Kilimanjaro?

Bob

Why am I picturing Bob and I in front of the Portal Store as the 'starting line'??? Maybe we can simply use it to see which is truly faster: the north or the south side of the NF below LBSL.

Sorry, I'm staying a bit further north this weekend. But if it's still there next weekend...

-L

Her trip is at the end of July. So we've got a couple of weeks.

Though I may try a solo run up the MTR to Iceberg and then over the pass to the drainage in the next week or so.

Just don't like doing things like that solo, that's all.

Just to let everyone know, the pack was picked up and moved back to the top of the "Notch." It is no longer down in the Whitney/Russell drainage. The person who moved it had a full pack already and couldn't recover the whole thing, but he DID get her wallet.

Now I'm debating how to recover the rest of the gear and am considering a daytime sprint to the top tomorrow. Anyone (with a good fast pace) wanna accompany me? Or is anyone still interested in the reward we're offering to get the pack back down to the portal?

Whoah! Who is the animal who hauled the pack back UP to the notch???

Why not wait a week -- seems like someone reading this board will dayhike the MR, and bring the pack down.

Just wondering...... why would a person with a full pack carry an extra pack all the way from the Artic Basin up to the Mountaineers route "Notch." It seems like it would make sense they would carry it to Iceberg Lake if able, but not to the Mountaineers route "notch".

In that area most usually refer to the "Notch" as the intersection of the Mountaineers route and the start of the staircase,.....at 14100 feet.

However, if one were coming up from the Whitney Russell drainage, it could also be a significant effort to carry an extra backpack and gear to the Whitney Russell pass. Coming up from either the Iceberg Lake side or the Artic basin drainage, one could also easily call this pass the "notch"

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1382960620061435028dQPYAP

Are we sure the backpack is at the 14100 foot notch?

Richard P and I hiked up the Artic lake drainage today and I took around 100 pictures of Whitney's north face in an attempt to locate the lost pack. When we got back down to the portal, Doug said the pack was found just below the Notch.

The pack WAS at the Notch.

It has since been recovered.

And my freakin' feet are the proof.

So tell us LA Sooner did you hike up to the notch and recover it yourself.I am also curious who the animal that carried it up to the notch. Interesting story.

Yo, i found the pack. The pack was sitting on the presipious of the N face of of the mnteers rt(about 500ft down from the notch 14100). A few more feet and it would have gone all the way to Artic lake. It was some nasty 3rd and 4th class terrain with lots of portable foot and hand holds.

I then shoulder the pack and carried it up to the notch where I serched through the pack finding a wallet and contact info.
SOOOOOOOOO yes, the backpack is at the Notch 14100. I was not interested in the gear just wondering if there needed to be a search for a body. After 7 years guiding in the sierra I have seen/witness and multi deaths in and around the area...
I had paying clients and they are priorty one. Also the last time I tried taking gear that I found on the mnt, the POLICE tried to press charges for interfering with a crime sceen. I spoke with the Sheriffs dept at the Notch once I located the the id. The Sheriffs dept told me to leave the pack. AND THAT IS WHAT I DID.