"So now you are saying that they actually knew where the body was, and were looking at it for 5 days? I mean, they actually looked at it and found the body, or they did not look at it, or did so in a cursory way, and missed the body?"
Seriously? Those are the only possibilities?
The other inference that puzzles me is: "I would never think twice about doing a solo summer ascent of Whitney. The concept that it is an unacceptable risk to experienced hikers seems bizarre to me." Where does THAT come from? I don't see any such concept in anything anyone has written on this forum.
Yes, there are only three possibilities: They saw him, they looked and didn't see him, they didn't look. Tell me another.
I think it was number 2...and I think that was generally the right thing to happen, because they should have been prioritizing finding him where he might be alive, not at the bottom of a chute.
Since you are repeating the "cliff" comment over and over, I must have stated that in error. Let me acknowledge that, so you don't have to keep repeating yourself,taking this even farther off the issue.
But to say that this is a "low probability, obscured area" is crazy. For example on the first day this was announced in this forum, it was posted:
"Late in the day, the pound down the switchers and ledges from the "last foxtail" to Mirror Lake has claimed (and hidden) its victims. That's where I would concentrate this search."
Who would have been so stupid as to advocate that??? Oh, it was YOU. So much for a bizarre, crazy area to search.
SteveC said: "It is easy to lose the trail, especially in the dark in that area."
So stop with the stupid idea business.
As for the concept of very experienced people separating during their day.....that is essentially simultaneous solo hikes. This has come in for a whole lot of criticism on this website. Over on the WPS website, a prominent >100 summit climber stated that he thought it was "abandonment" on the partner's part. Inasmuch as you posted in that thread specifically on the issue, I'd assume that you would know that this issue is in play.
"missed despite a highly competent look directly at this area."
Who is speculating NOW? So if he was the subject of a "highly competent look directly at this area", then there needs to be rethinking of this approach, in what YOU describe as the most likely area,
and exactly where he was found...eventually.
You
correctly identified where his body was located
within about 3 hours of the original post. I think that was sharp thinking, based upon knowledge of the mountain and the information presented.
We'll need to see the report as to whether they rapped the chutes in the area, or just took a more careful look via air.
