Two Experienced Climbers Die on Mount Whitney amid Winter Conditions

Two climbers are dead following an incident on 14,505-foot Mount Whitney in California, officials said.

On Thursday, May 9, the Inyo County Sheriff’s office said that rescuers had received a call on May 7 of two hikers who were overdue on Mount Whitney. According to the report, the two had been hiking the Mount Whitney Mountaineer Route and had intended to descend to a feature called the “Notch” before skiing and snowboarding down to their camp at Upper Boy Scout Lake. When the two did not arrive at their destination, a third person in the party called rescuers.

“Tragically, both hikers were later discovered deceased,” the Inyo County Sheriff posted on social media on May 9.

The Sacramento Bee reported that the Tulare County Coroner’s Office confirmed the identities of the victims as Andrew Niziol, 28, a resident of South Lake Tahoe, and Patty Bolan, 29, a recent UC Davis PhD graduate.

A winter storm hit the Sierra Nevada range on May 3-5, dropping more than a foot of snow at upper elevations. In a press release on April 25, Inyo County Search and Rescue warned that winter conditions still exist high on Mount Whitney and that climbers should exercise caution when attempting to summit the peak.

“We have concerns that the deadly incidents on Mt. Baldy earlier this year are an indicator of what may occur on Mt. Whitney this spring,” said the Inyo County Sheriff’s preventative education committee in a statement. “Mt. Whitney is a tempting goal for many given its status and comparative ease in technical difficulty, but it nonetheless remains a serious endeavor with potentially serious consequences, especially with the snow and ice conditions that we anticipate on the route until at least late July this year.”

Ethan Michael Cannaert, a third member of the climbing party, posted on a private Facebook group asking for help after getting separated from Niziol and Bolan on the Mountaineers Route. In this post, which was reshared publicly on Reddit, Cannaert said that he had returned to his high camp at Upper Boyscout Lake at the time of the post. He had descended from the summit plateau down the “Final 400,” a very steep section of snow that represents the final crux of Mount Whitney’s Mountaineers Route before Niziol and Bolan.

Cannaert then waited at the bottom of the Final 400 for the two climbers and never saw them again. He planned to meet Niziol and Bolan at the Notch, where all three members had cached skis and splitboards, while Cannaert went ahead to escape cold blowing winds. He stated that Niziol and Bolan were experienced mountaineers and were adequately equipped for the conditions high on the mountain.

“I waited there for hours, but eventually headed back to our camp at Upper Boy Scout lake at 3:30 P.M. and contacted SAR in the evening,” Cannaert said. “They both had cell service most of the way up the route, but have not responded to any of my messages. Still no word from either of them as of posting.”

Niziol and Bolan traveled to the Southern Sierra after an attempt to ski Mount Shasta, another popular California fourteener, where they turned around from the summit on May 3 amid high winds.

Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States. It experiences extreme weather. On October 17, 2023, Air France pilot Tom Gerbier died in a fall on the Mountaineer’s Route amid winter-like conditions.

We reached out to Cannaert for comment but have not heard a response at press time.

This is a developing story and Outside will continue to update it as more information becomes available.