EISPIRATEN

I contacted an acquaintance who likes to monitor SAR frequencies; for obvious reasons he shall remain nameless. At any rate he heard the discovery call the night of Tuesday 7/25; the coordinates given were 34.17985-117.99911. If you plug this in on next's days flight it looks like the attached. If you look at the three way-points just prior to the return flight, it takes 27 seconds to get from the first to the second point, but 1 minute 7 seconds to get from the 2nd to the third. I think that is when the pickup took place; from there the flight heads directly back to base.

the marker looks like that's the west side of the ridge trail but it seems his body was recovered on the east side? looks to be in the section where it gets very steep?

Any info regarding whether he fell, medical issue, snake bite, etc?

All indications are that he was recovered from the ravine where the marker is shown, on the west side of the main trail ridge. Until the autopsy report is issued, we won’t know cause of death; that may take up to 60 days. Basic information will be available free online at the Medical Examiner’s website.

My current hypothesis on what happened. I think that Colin found the very nice 1933 aerial on FrameFinders showing what I believe to be a ca. 1925 switchback trail built by the City of Monrovia, that was more or less supplanted by a subsequent fire-break which ultimately became the main Clamshell Peak Trail. Whether he was just taking a look on his way to his ultimate destination, the ridge between Clamshell and Rankin, or he thought he would put a 1/2 day in and look just at the subject switchbacks, we'll never know. But I think its a fairly good bet that he was working on these switchbacks when things went wrong.

Attached is the 1933 aerial with a red circle indicating the location of the discovery call. I've also attached my attempt to draw the route of the switchback nearest that location of the discovery call on a 2022 aerial, with the location of call indicated. It is a safe assumption that Colin was found in the ravine from which the discovery call was made. I think it’s a fair hypothesis that Colin suffered a fall while crossing the ravine following either the bottom or top leg of the switchback. If a fall was involved, as opposed to some other cause, the only other explanation is he fell into the ravine off or near the main Clamshell Peak Trail, which is possible, but I feel less likely.

There is one other factor that plays into this. According to the PSN, the South Pasadena Deputy City Manager stated the remains were found “300’ down a ravine”. It is safe to assume the ravine the official is talking about is the same one where the discovery call was made. It would make sense that the 300’ down refers to down the ravine from the main ridge. The call location, however, is only 115’ feet down from the ridge line. One explanation for the discrepancy is that the remains were in fact 300’ down and the discovery call was made on the basis of an artifact or visual.

Paul Ayers wrote:
There is one other factor that plays into this. According to the PSN, the South Pasadena Deputy City Manager stated the remains were found “300’ down a ravine”. It is safe to assume the ravine the official is talking about is the same one where the discovery call was made. It would make sense that the 300’ down refers to down the ravine from the main ridge. The call location, however, is only 115’ feet down from the ridge line. One explanation for the discrepancy is that the remains were in fact 300’ down and the discovery call was made on the basis of an artifact or visual.

i was wondering about that! thank you.

The LA County Medical Examiner now has a page up for Colin; here is the link, https://mec.lacounty.gov/case-detail/?c ... 2023-09482 . The cause of death is "Deferred" pending further investigation.

Paul Ayers wrote: ↑The LA County Medical Examiner now has a page up for Colin; here is the link, https://mec.lacounty.gov/case-detail/?c ... 2023-09482 . The cause of death is "Deferred" pending further investigation.

updated

https://me.lacounty.gov/case-detail/?ca ... 2023-09482

I did not see that coming.

I uploaded a memorial hiking video of Colin. Thanks to Paul, Keith and Cecelia for additional photos. It's still hard to accept that he's gone.

We had plans.

Thats wonderful you used his own beautiful guitar playing. Super touching tribute, Sean!

I never knew Colin was a musician, and an accomplished one, until after that one day I hiked with him a week before he passed. What I also didn't know until months later is that he was the son of Shirley Walker, a very respected, talented and trailblazing film composer whom I grew up listening to and admiring as a kid. I have a couple of her soundtracks. She passed away herself much too young as well in the mid 2000s. The topic never came up on the day we spent on Rose Peak, so absorbed were we in our other shared passion of the outdoors. Colin and I could have had some great conversations on future expeditions in the back country about his mother and growing up in film scoring, and my two very specific passions in life - mountain exploring and film music - could have come together in a pretty remarkable way. Now I will only imagine the places we would have explored together, and those conversations we would have had.

Colin would have blown you away with his knowledge of music. He also knew several languages and worked professionally translating the captions for movie subtitles.

I wish I had been blessed with the chance to meet him.

HikeUp wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 9:18 pm I wish I had been blessed with the chance to meet him.

He was a nice guy HikeUp. I only met him once and unfortunately it was the last time I would ever hike with him. He blessed us all with his love of the mountains.

Thanks for posting this. I'm sorry I never got the chance to walk with Colin.

Exactly a year ago today we hiked to that beautiful historical Rose peak with Collin.
RIP