Adventure Raci… Searching!

Expert search and rescue and medical support came from Keith Szlater, Greg Francek and Tyler Leblanc, who were an important addition to the group. “We were learning from them and giving it our own flair,” Trebilcock says. “We have the speed over that kind of terrain; they have the experience.” That combination allowed the group to finish the search with what’s termed a 70 per cent POD – probably of detection.

The six days of searching began each morning at 5:45 a.m. and would end by 5:30 p.m. Taking in anywhere from four to eight litres of water a day, the intense heat and altitude were hardly the toughest challenges they faced. Day Two’s search of a large ravine called Masonic Gulch featured dense forests and extremely steep valley walls that left some of the team with severe blisters. As if that weren’t enough, the next day saw the search move up to elevations of 3,200 metres on Mount Patterson.

“After the punishment our feet took yesterday, today was a bit easier as there was not as much brutal side-sloping, although stinging nettles and dense alders took their toll on most members of the team,” Donato reported on the Adventure Science website. “The greatest danger in the canyon, as we found out, was the loose scree, which caused every member to take at least one fall. There were no injuries beyond cuts and bruises.”

By the sixth day, the group found themselves both tired and disappointed. In the end they wouldn’t find Fossett’s remains – those were discovered by a hiker in October 2008 in Yosemite, an area that Donato had hoped to search. After the discovery, Donato had this to say in an update on his website:

So what are my thoughts on this, and how does it relate to our search? Well, I’m definitely not surprised that he was found in the Sierra Nevadas. That was our premise going down, that he did fly the 395 Hwy as he had stated prior to leaving the ranch, and that he was sightseeing in the beautiful alpine meadows when he probably ran into difficult winds, or the aircraft was too underpowered to clear the peak that he struck.

Where was he relative to us, you ask? About 70K south. Our initial search plan was to be split between the Sweetwater area and Yosemite, as we had obtained permission to search both. I had considered the Mammoth area, but was intrigued by the mystery cellphone photo taken in Yosemite by a female hiker who was annoyed by a low-flying plane. Ultimately, the plan was to spend three days in each location. However, following the tip we received during our acclimatization day on Monday in the Bodie Hills, we refocused our efforts on the northern valleys, which ended up eating into our remaining time and then it became impractical to go to Yosemite.