Rescuers recovered the body of Brian Seibert, 53, early Wednesday after the climber fell to his death while descending a treacherous 13,000-foot Sierra Nevada peak.
The Mono County Sheriff’s Office had declared Seibert missing on Sunday when he failed to return home from his solo climb, prompting friends to report his disappearance. Search teams with scent-sniffing dogs and helicopter support launched their effort Monday, tracking his route up the north ridge of Mount Morgan North in Mono County.
Investigators determined Seibert had successfully reached the summit, where he signed his name in the registry. Cellphone data traced his descent, but Monday’s search ended with him still unaccounted for.
“We sure had some good times with that big mammoth family…the world is gonna miss you…rest easy, brian,” Darin Mitchell wrote on Facebook.
Teams resumed the search Tuesday with a California National Guard CH-47 Chinook, deploying rescuers at 12,500 feet. The helicopter crew spotted an anomaly near the bottom of Grand Central Couloir, a steep gully below the summit.
Rescuers reached the site and discovered Seibert had sustained what officials described as an unsurvivable fall from a cliff band at the base of the couloir.
His body could not be extracted Tuesday because teams determined insufficient daylight remained for a safe operation. The recovery was completed early Wednesday morning.
“Thank you for all your efforts to get our friend back to his loved ones!” another friend wrote.
Mount Morgan North presents a formidable challenge to climbers, requiring a 10.4-mile round trip with 4,061 feet of elevation gain. The peak sits in a remote stretch of the Sierra Nevada where several hikers have met tragic ends in recent years.
The incident follows another deadly California mountaineering accident this same week. HGTV guest Kalem Peter Kazarian, 52, died attempting to hike Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States.
