The State - News from Oct. 10, 1989
A seasoned, well-equipped climber fell more than 800 feet to his death down the icy east face of Mt. Whitney as his companion watched helplessly, authorities said. Lewis Gene Morris, 30, lost his footing at the 12,000-foot level near Iceberg Lake, Inyo County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Letze said. After Morris, a guard at the state prison in Tehachapi, bounced and slid down an ice chute, his companion, Steve Nootenboom, hiked down the sheer face and found the body. Mt. Whitney, at 14,494 feet, is the highest peak in the contiguous United States.
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