Re: 80-year-old backpacker goes missing

I wonder if they have had any luck finding her

http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/kvml/1186001085

We left out of Tuolumne Meadows yesterday about 3:00p.m. and as we were in the store, a search and rescue guy came in. Someone asked him if they had found her yet and he said no

Ottorina Bonaventura Search Incident Update

Effective Monday, August 6, 2007, the search efforts for lost backpacker Ottorina Bonaventura transitioned to a limited continuous search strategy involving local ground searchers and an investigations unit.

nitial search activities began on Monday, July 30, 2007. A full-scale search was in place by Tuesday, July 31, 2007.

Nearly 150 searchers from all over the state joined National Park Service staff in the search effort. The search area included over 100 square miles of rugged wilderness terrain ranging in elevation from 8,000 to over 10,000 feet above sea level. Exposed granite outcroppings, high altitude, heavy timber, and steep terrain were some of the conditions faced by searchers. Additionally, afternoon thunderstorms, high winds, and cold conditions were major safety concerns for search managers and personnel. Safety has been of primary concern throughout the search incident.

The change in search strategy came after a careful review of continuing risk exposure against the probability of locating Ottorina Bonaventura. Ground searchers, dogs, and aerial flights have extensively covered the area of and radiating out from the location where Bonaventura was last seen.

Yosemite National Park continues to investigate this incident. Anyone with information or questions should contact the Yosemite National Park Media Relations Office at 209/372-0529.

(-NPS-)

The search has been called off:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/07/state/n100752D70.DTL

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Search For Missing Woman Scaled Back

The search for an 80-year-old woman who’s been missing since July 30th has been scaled back. Ottorina Bonaventura of Schererville, Indiana, was part of a small group hiking in the Yosemite wilderness and staying at the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. They were hiking to Ireland Lake when she decided to return to the camp to retrieve some food. She failed to rejoin the group. At its peak this past weekend, nearly 150 people from the NPS and numerous county and state teams participated in the search. Yesterday, the search was scaled back to SAR and ranger staff only, pending discovery of any further clues. Protection staff were involved in a number of other operations during the Bonaventura SAR, including a helicopter evacuation from Half Dome, a medical assist at May Lake for a cardiac arrest, two serious ankle injuries, a helicopter evacuation from Vogelsang High Sierra Camp for abdominal pain, three lost persons (all of whom self-recovered with ranger assistance), and a short-haul operation for an injured backpacker near Pate Valley. SAR staff also responded to a personal locator beacon (PLB) which activated while the owner was miles from the park, safely in his vehicle. Approximately 10 staff members hiked into a remote area near Yosemite Creek drainage after dark to respond to the beacon. With the exception of the Half Dome evacuation, all of the incidents were handled by the same subdistrict as the major SAR.

Bonaventura is described as 5'0” tall, with dyed blond hair and brown eyes. She is an experienced hiker, but has a history of memory loss.

I hope they find her unharmed but someone who makes a choice to hike alone and suffers from memory loss is only asking for trouble. There aren't too many places they should venture out alone and Yosemite, definitely isn't one of those places.

bvm wrote:

> I hope they find her unharmed but someone who makes a choice to
> hike alone and suffers from memory loss is only asking for
> trouble.

I have to wonder about the people that let her try to go back alone. Not a great idea to let an old woman with memory loss hike by herself.

My thoughts exactly. We hiked the North Highland Way in Scotland two years ago and there was a lady in the group with a memory problem. She was never out of someone's sight the entire hike.



Post Edited (08-11-07 00:31)

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Old Dude

mrcondron wrote:

> My thoughts exactly. We hiked the North Highland Way in
> Scotland two years ago and there was a lady in the group with a
> memory problem. She was never out of someone's sight the
> entire hike.

I was a leader for quite a few Sierra Club hikes. We always keep the people between two leaders and did a head count at every stop. Even people without memory issues are just too easy to lose.