Missing Person in Mammoth Lakes area

Hi,

I received a voice mail from the Mammoth Lakes pd re: a friend of mine who has been missing for over a week. I've tried to call all day and left messages but have not heard back yet. Has anyone been climbing or hiking in the area who has any information or any insight for me?

-Anthony

Anthony Nguyen wrote:Hi, I received a voice mail from the Mammoth Lakes pd re: a friend of mine who has been missing for over a week. I've tried to call all day and left messages but have not heard back yet. Has anyone been climbing or hiking in the area who has any information or any insight for me? -Anthony

FrankPS wrote: Good luck, but this is a pretty vague post.

Anthony the two local news source, neither The Sheet nor the Mammoth Times, have anything about this. In my experience, if your friend's car is still at the trailhead then the police are first trying to make sure that your friend didn't change their plans for some reason, is out safe, and simply hasn't gotten back to their car. If that is the case, then the MLPD won't make a public statement until they're positive your friend isn't out of the woods and safe.

I'm friends with Anthony and the person who is missing. I also received a call and the same message from the PD. Also, no luck getting more information from them. Chris- thank you for your comments and some more background into the process- that was helpful. Just hoping that it's all a big mistake and we'll enjoy a good story and beer laughing about this in the future. If we get any additional information that may help, we'll post it here.

Tom

Try posting on the mammoth mountain forum. Mammothmountain.com

Forum tab is at bottom of the page.

There are a number of locals active on there that might know something or be able to help.

Good luck.

Jason

posting a description of the individual might help?

The MLPD released this information today. Please share with anyone that you know who may have been hiking/climbing in this area over the last couple of weeks. Thanks!

mammothtimes.com/content/ra…

I'm another friend of the missing person. There is some evidence (not conclusive) that he may have been heading to climb Mt Lyell from Tuolemme Meadows on July 17th. If anyone is climbing or hiking in that area please keep an eye out. He would have taken the shuttle bus from Mammoth/Lee Vining that morning. I know it's a long shot, but if anyone recalls running into him on the bus or trail on the 17th please respond and inform the Mammoth Lakes police dept.

Article with picture.

mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-…

39 year old male white, 5’11”, approximately 155 pounds, with brownish-blonde short hair

I did not speak to Matt at all during his trip this summer, but we climbed together before at the Gunks. On the ride up he and I spoke a little about the bushwack from cathedral lakes to budd lake, then how nice the bushwack down budd creek was heading out (north). Maybe he was in checking out Matthes Crest... Wanted to pass along the information for what its worth. I have no idea if he planned on that this summer. Matt did say he wanted to hit up areas like Mount Lyell on this summer's trip as JJG mentioned.

Sending positive thoughts his way.

- Greg

Greg Altonen
altonens@ptd.net

I heard back from the PD in another message about some of the gear that was left in his car. It's not extremely detailed, but may be helpful. Most importantly, it sounds like his large backpack was not there, he had his crampons with him, and possibly some climbing equipment. He didn't take his ice axes (not sure about a mountaineering ax). In taking his crampons, it's possible that he may have planned to be on some snow or ice. I'm trying to find out what camping gear he may have had with him too. I know he has a bivy tent in addition to a larger tent for the campsite. It sounds like the larger tent was left behind, but I don't know about the bivy tent.

If he was planning on a simple day hike, I think he would have left his larger backpack behind and took a day/summit pack with him. It's also possible that he may have stashed his larger pack somewhere if doing a peak and just carried with him his small summit pack and technical tools. I have seen two references above to Mt. Lyell, but again, nothing has been confirmed. Any sections in that area that would have required or suggested the need for crampons?

Also, if anyone knows someone who took the shuttle from Mammoth Lake to the meadows on the 16th or 17th, please share this info with them.

I will post any additional info that I find out.

Tom

One more thing:

For anyone that has knowledge about Mt. Lyell and the area, is it conceivable to decide to peak Mt. Lyell and then plan to hike back to Mammoth Lake? From the aerial maps, it looks possible, but fairly technical in some areas. This is all just speculation on my end, but knowing Matt, and knowing that he had several days to wait for his car to be fixed, I could see him considering this as an option.

Tom

I sure hope yall find him. Sending positive vibes that way.

Yes. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest he attempted the Lyell climb. There is public transportation to the trailhead, he did take crampons and one ice axe, he did take his mountaineering boots. There is a snow slope to cross on the std route. He had already done the other two popular snow/ice climbs in the area (North Peak and Dana Col.) - so Lyell would be the next logical choice...probably the only logical choice in that area.

And, yes it is possible that he planned to descend into Mammoth Lakes - that would be fairly long trip, but he's done longer.

Another plausible scenario is the he attempted Banner/Mt Ritter from Mammoth Lakes - again, based on his selection of gear, interests and last know whereabouts.

In talking with Matt's Friends who were last with him and are communicating with local authorities, they feel strongly that he either attempted Mt Lyell from Tuolumne or Mt. Banner/Ritter in Mammoth Lakes on July 17th. They went through his car and gear and based off of past conversations with Matt, agree that one of these areas were likely scenarios for him. They are leaning more toward Mt. Lyell.

Search and Rescue can't initiate a search without more concrete information on where he may have gone. Until that happens or until S&R makes the decision to go anyway, the hope is that some locals or others in the area could head out this weekend and search these two mountains. If anyone is able to do that, please let me know. I'm not sure if anything formal can get established between now and then (I and several of his friends are on the East coast), but just having people out there walking these areas would be extremely useful.

Thank you!
Tom

Referencing related post from General Climbing. The FB page has current updates. Looks like they're searching Lyell and Ritter.

Dave Pfurr wrote:Matt Greene has been missing now for two weeks. Please check the Facebook page below for info. and updates on the expanding search for him. Maybe you can do something to help find this fellow climber. facebook.com/findmattgreene

Here is the latest info:

Yosemite rangers are heading out to Lyell today to check the registry. SAR is heading to Ritter and the helicopter got the green light. The key clues right now is the guide book- pages were torn out for ritter and banner area and Lyell was untouched. This was Matt's style if he was heading out somewhere. He also took snow gear, so that also suggests Ritter, which needs the gear. If anyone is heading out there this weekend, please help with the search.

Thank you all-
Tom

Some other active forums are:

supertopo.com/climbing/thre…

highsierratopix.com/communi…

bump
any new info?

Here is the latest (posted from his family):

I received updates through Bill w/ SAR and ran through everything with Matts friend Tony as well. Unfortunately, the search did not yield anything. The helicopter was able to do an aerial while the ground crews were out but they did not uncover any evidence of Matt. They did take a bunch of pictures while they were out that they will be reviewing and zooming in on to make sure nothing was missed. He did not sign the registers at the top of Banner or Ritter. Yosemite is still suppose to check the one at Lyell, though SAR does not think it's probable he would be there. SAR took pictures of the registers and are also pulling what info they can from permits issued to try and call/email those individuals to see if anyone might have any info on Matt. The fellow from the repair station is not of any circumstance; he was back a few days now and was actually part of SAR; the only thing Matt spoke to him about was his car repair. They went through Matt's gear again and established that he was not equipped for overnight; tent/bivvy/sleeping bag/stove/heavy jacket were all still with gear. Additionally, no rope or technical equipment was missing so they don't believe he was attempting any climbs. That about sums it up; I'll be editing the notes too with all this. I really think at this point that we need nationwide media coverage to get new leads and get them quick. I've contacted the major ones (Fox, NBC, CNN) but need to hound them more to get some attention brought to this story ASAP.

Please take a moment and take a look at the Flickr Page that was created for Matt. There are photos on there and a few videos of Matt. Please share with anyone that may have been in the area in the past couple of weeks. If more people see his face, maybe somebody will remember something.

flickr.com/groups/findmattg…

Thanks-

Tom