Hiker’s body found near top of 13,000-foot Sierra Nevada summit

The body of a missing hiker was discovered on Tuesday more than 24 hours after a massive search was launched.

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Brian Seibert, 53, was last heard from on Oct. 4 around 7 p.m. before he attempted to reach the top of Mount Morgan in the Sierra Nevada. Seibert, described as a “peak bagger” by the Mono County Sheriff’s Office, managed to send a message saying he was returning.

The morning after he sent the message, the Mono County Sheriff Search and Rescue team was alerted at 11:30 a.m. that Seibert was missing. Multiple rescue teams were assembled in an effort to find the missing hiker, including a California Highway Patrol air team and K-9 responders. Rescue crews used cellphone forensics to help determine where to search. 

One team followed Seibert’s planned path up the north ridge and confirmed the hiker had managed to summit the mountain, which is a little over 13,000 feet at its peak, after checking the register. 

A day after Seibert was reported missing, aerial search teams spotted an “anomaly” near a gully off the summit called the Grand Central Couloir. Search teams then spotted tracks heading in the direction of the gully and discovered Seibert’s body after following them there. 

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“It was determined that Brian sustained an unsurvivable fall from a cliff band at the base of the couloir,” a news release from the Mono County Sheriff Search and Rescue team said. 

Due to the challenging terrain and the inability to land a helicopter nearby during daylight hours, Seibert’s body was recovered the following day on Wednesday by the Yosemite Search and Rescue team. In total, 21 personnel responded and logged a total of 305 hours in the search for Seibert. 

There have been multiple reports of rescues of both experienced and novice hikers throughout California in recent weeks. They’ve included a group of visitors to Mount Shasta who used artificial intelligence to plan their trip and a woman who was rescued after falling 100 feet during a day trip in Shasta-Trinity National Forest.