Lingering Sierra Snowpack May Have Led to a Death on Mount Whitney

On Tuesday, October 17, Tom Gerbier, a 38-year-old Air France pilot from a suburb of Paris, died after falling on 14,505-foot Mount Whitney. Gerbier had a permit to climb via the Mountaineers Route, a highly exposed climb covered in loose rocks, steep enough that a slip or trip would likely result in death.

When Gerbier did not show up for his flight the next day, rescuers went looking for him. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park rangers found a body on Thursday, and Tulare County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the body was Gerbier. Sequoia rangers reported that Gerbier fell about 1,000 feet, likely from a section of the Mountaineers Route called The Notch. The climber’s death was the first of the year on Mount Whitney, but the second of the season in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park.

In most years, the section where Gerbier fell is an exposed scree field—a section that requires an easy walk to traverse. But Ryan Huetter, a local guide who is IFMGA certified, told me that the section was still covered in snow and ice when he climbed past the section on October 21. “The traverse is exposed to a drop of over 1,000 feet onto bands of rock. As soon as you trip you’d move very fast and not stop.” Huetter says. Dave Stimson, another local IFMGA certified guide, told me he would never guide clients on that section.

The snow and ice are mostly not fresh—though a few inches fell in early October, the majority is what remains of the enormous snowpack that blanketed the Sierra Nevada over the winter and spring. By April 1 the Southern Sierra region, home to Mount Whitney, sat at 300 percent of its average snowpack. This incredible snowfall—the most in recorded history—created hazardous conditions that persisted through the summer and fall. Huetter says there are still 200-foot sections of snow and ice in the climb’s last 400 feet.

In a traditional year, much of the snow and ice is usually gone from the Mountaineers Route by the end of July. Huetter said he spotted pieces of gear on the exposed traverse during his ascent of the peak on October 21. He says many climbers are daunted by the steep rock and instead follow the traverse—even though it is extremely treacherous when covered in ice.

Huetter believes Gerbier fell while attempting to take the traverse and skip the technical scrambling. “I saw either a glove or a single crampon stuck in the snow from where I stood at the Notch,” he said. “It was maybe like 60 to 75 feet out from the notch along the traverse.”

While many climbers are recommending rappelling the route’s final 400 feet to avoid potentially dangerous slip-and-fall conditions, hikers and climbers without ropes often ascend and descend the tricky traverse. Sometimes, people just look up at those steep slabs and search for a way around. “People are scared of the final 400, it’s got kind of an aura to it,” says Huetter.

Unprepared climbers are a common site on the highest in the continental United States. Huetter believes that the challenge of obtaining a permit during peak season—June through September—many climbers now seek permits to climb in May and October, which is less crowded but prone to harsher conditions they’ll encounter harsher conditions. “The height-of-season quota definitely seems like it forces people out of the opportune climbing seasons. When they encounter snow, many climbers are woefully unprepared,” he said.

Whitney’s summit is so popular that the Forest Service manages it with a restrictive permit system. The permit system as we know it today evolved out of conflicts between land managers and backpackers in the 1970s. The Forest Service cites the high volume of traffic on the mountain and the need to protect its natural resources. More than 100,000 people apply each year and around 30,000 of them receive permits. Those who didn’t receive one can climb the route before May 1 or after November 1, but often face serious winter conditions.

Mount Whitney is no stranger to climber deaths. Many of the accidents that result in fatalities on the mountain occur in April before the permit system begins.

“A lot of people think that in late season the snow will be gone, but whatever’s left is going to be extremely dangerous,” said Huetter. The snow conditions he encountered this week were extremely firm, and offered marginal protection. Too hard to pound in a snow picket but too soft to place an ice screw. Certainly slick enough to take a slide.

The Sierra Nevada offers remarkably consistent conditions to climbers. The weather is very stable in the summer, and the mountains rarely see the kind of regular afternoon thunderstorms that hammer Colorado. The snowpack typically withers under a midsummer sun. “The fact that the conditions in the Sierra are usually so benign is a blessing and a curse,” says Huetter. “It makes climbers here bad at pivoting from their objective.” Climbers in California, he argues, don’t pay as much attention to changing conditions and are often caught unawares.

During Huetter’s recent ascent of the Mountaineers Route, he encountered a solo climber who’d taken a technical rock route. The climber wore approach shoes without crampons; according to Huetter, “He was gripped. He had full-on saucer eyes and was trying to find a path through the rock slabs.” Huetter asked if the man had any spikes and the soloist responded he did not know he would encounter snow. “You can plainly see the snow from Iceberg Lake at the base of his route,” said Huetter.

Whether or not Gerbier slipped to his death on ice—or fell due to some other mishap—may never be known. But Huetter and Stimison both warn experienced and novice climbers alike that the Whitney route—while popular—is trickier than normal this year, given the historic conditions from just a few months ago.

“Iceberg Lake never melted this year,” said Stimson, reinforcing just how much snow fell in the Whitney basin. “There was a lake underneath the Keeler Needle that I’ve never seen before.”

In a statement published on October 21, Air France said that it “regrets to confirm the accidental death of one of its pilots, which occurred on October 20th, 2023 while he was on a stopover in Los Angeles (California). The company offers its most sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.”