Body of missing Huntington Beach hiker is found in eastern Sierra

Remains found on a mountain in the eastern Sierra Nevada were identified Thursday as a Huntington Beach man who vanished last weekend after going for a hike in the Inyo National Forest outside Bishop, officials said.

The body of 40-year-old Alan Stringer was discovered around 2:30 p.m. on a glacier at the base of Mount Darwin, according to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office.

Crews had been searching for Stringer since he was reported missing Monday evening.

Stringer said he was going for a hike Sunday but did not return, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

He did not disclose his specific hiking plans or potential routes, but he had recently purchased an ice ax and crampons and taken mountaineering training courses, officials said. He was only equipped for a day hike when he left and, though he had an InReach satellite communication device, it was not activated.

Authorities described Stringer as an experienced hiker.

Searchers looked for Stringer’s car at trailheads around the Bishop area. They found the vehicle Tuesday morning at North Lake, about 15 miles southwest of town in the Bishop Creek Canyon area. Trails from North Lake start at about 9,500 feet elevation, and temperatures have dropped well below freezing overnight there in recent days.

Ground teams also combed Piute Pass, Lamarck Col and 13,210-foot Mount Emerson, all of which can be reached out of North Lake, authorities said. Thursday’s search was planned to include Wonder Lake Basin and the 13,417-foot summit of Mount Lamarck.

An aerial search was done Wednesday night using night-vision capabilities.

An analysis of Stringer’s cellphone activity revealed only that he had made a call early Sunday from downtown Bishop, before his hike.

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