The Inyo County Sheriff’s office announced on Monday it had recovered the body of a young male hiker that fits the description of Joseph Brambila, who disappeared on the mountain in early November.
Brambila, 21, has been the subject of multiple searches in the last month, and his family has waged a desperate campaign on social media asking for help finding him.
The body was removed from the 99 Switchbacks area high on the mountain — the tallest in the United States outside of Alaska —– by helicopter around 11 a.m. on Monday, according to Lindsey Stine, the Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
Brambila’s disappearance was the focus of a Times story on Friday that included videos of his previous trek on Mt. Whitney, in June, which included a risky maneuver, known as glissading, on the upper reaches of the mountain.
The body found on Monday was on a steep, icy section known as the 99 Switchbacks, according to Stine, where another hiker slipped and fell to his death in October.
The Sheriff’s Office is holding off on publicly naming the deceased individual until the County Coroner positively identifies the body, Stine said. But Brambila’s family has been notified, Stine said, and they indicated the clothes found on the recovered body match what Brambila was believed to be wearing.
No one else has been reported missing on the mountain since Brambila disappeared on Nov. 11, Stine said. He was the only hiker unaccounted for.
The recovered body had suffered extensive injuries, and there were no formal identification documents discovered with it, so the Sheriff’s Office is waiting for the coroner to officially identify the remains.
This is a developing story, and will be updated.
