William Standish, a 28-year-old Australian man attempting a thru-hike of the Continental Divide Trail, was found dead Wednesday in Wyoming‘s Teton mountain range. The Teton County coroner said a fatal fall likely caused his death.
Standish had been reported missing by his family, who received updates from him via a Garmin GPS device and Facebook Messenger. His final communication came on July 23. After several days without contact, authorities in Teton County launched a search Monday. By Wednesday evening, searchers discovered his body on the west slope of the Tetons, near an area known as the Wigwams.
Evidence suggests Standish fell from a steep, high-altitude ridgeline separating Grand Teton National Park and the Jedediah Smith Wilderness, Teton County search and rescue said in a statement. A helicopter team flying to his last known location spotted a bright orange backpack and then found his remains below the ridge south of North Wigwam Peak.
Standish had started the 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail in Canada, the trail’s northern terminus, passing through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. His family said they stopped receiving updates on July 23, though they later got a Garmin check-in without coordinates and a Facebook Messenger video they believe placed him in the Wigwams. On July 19, he had given an update from near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park and described his planned route through the Tetons, Gros Ventre wilderness, Wind River range, and the Divide Basin.
Teton County search and rescue sent condolences to Standish’s family and thanked federal agencies that assisted in the investigation.
The death is one of several hiking fatalities in North America in recent days. Levi Strobel, 15, died after being struck by lightning Sunday on Colorado’s Mount Blue Sky, The Colorado Sun reported. Four others were seriously injured, including Strobel’s younger brother, who was airlifted to a hospital in the Denver metro area.
Richard Fletcher, 61, left his home early Saturday for a hike on Phoenix‘s South Mountain. He never returned, and a cyclist later found his body on the trail. Authorities told local media his death was consistent with a heat-related or medical event.
In New Hampshire, a 62-year-old man suffered a medical emergency on the Welch-Dickey trail in the White Mountains. He was evacuated by national guard helicopter but later pronounced dead, New Hampshire Public Radio reported.
In Canada, a woman in her 20s died Tuesday after falling from a mountain near Marvel Peak in Banff National Park. That followed Saturday’s death of a 65-year-old Calgary man who fell from Mount Temple, also in Banff, the CBC reported.