|
Body of missing hiker discovered |
|
|
Tuesday, 22 July 2008 |
 The search for missing hiker Ric DeVan, shown here with his wife and daughter recently, ended on a sad note Wednesday when his remains were discovered on Mt. No Goode west of Bishop Pass. DeVan had last been seen July 3. Photo courtesy Sierra Wave By Mike Gervais
Register Staff 7-19-2008
One of the largest, most intestive searches in Inyo County history came to a sad end earlier this week with a grim discovery in the rugged backcountry west of Bishop.
Inyo County officials have officially identified remains discovered Wednesday as missing 44-year-old San Diego hiker Ric DeVan. The body was found in a steep gully on Peak No. 12,916, also known as Mt. No Goode.
According to the Inyo County Coroner’s Office, DeVan died of “multiple traumatic injuries” suffered due to a “high angle fall.”
After major search operations led by the Inyo County Search and Rescue Team were suspended Friday, July 11, friends and family of DeVan set out to continue the search effort.
Inyo County SAR was contacted to investigate a rock slide area Sunday, but that yielded no results.
Then, on Tuesday, July 15, a searcher working with the DeVan family located DeVan’s backpack from the summit of Mt. No Goode.
With that vital lead, Inyo County Search and Rescue returned to the search area with a canine unit. While flying into the Mt. No Goode area via helicopter on Wednesday, the team noticed what appeared to be a body 150 feet below the summit of the peak of Mt. No Goode.
The original search team flew back to Bishop to organize a recovery team. The group of about 17 searchers hiked to the base of the peak to recover the body that was later identified as DeVan.
The search team carried the body off the mountain to a waiting helicopter.
Family members of DeVan identified the body Wednesday.
DeVan was reported missing July 5 when he failed to meet up with family members at Treasure Lakes after a two-day backpacking trip. Searchers had been concentrating their efforts in the treacherous, unstable terrain between Mt. Goode and Mt. Johnson. Since July 5, more than 15 agencies from various parts of the state got involved in the efforts to locate DeVan.
As rescuers began their mission to locate DeVan, team members learned that the climber had sumitted Mt. Goode by locating the register on that peak. DeVan wrote in the book that he would be traversing to Mt. Johnson, a neighboring peak, next.
It appears that DeVan changed his plans and was hiking back towards the Bishop Pass trail when he fell. |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 08 August 2008 )
|
