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| (Photo by Alan Ritter) |
There is a lonely grave in the Sierra. It is in a
high valley, rarely visited, and far away from popular hiking trails. The few
climbers who reach that place on their way to Banner Peak or Mount Ritter
usually just pass by, hurrying towards the glacier that will lead them to
their destination. Many don't realize that midway up the valley,
and within steps of a perennial spring, there is a stone cairn with a
bronze plaque, a forgotten memorial to two climbers who died on Banner Peak
in the summer of 1934, more than seventy years ago.
Not much is known about this tragic event that took place in the Ritter Range,
near Mammoth Lakes. A story in circulation
among those who have heard of the site suggests that the people
buried here were a young couple spending their honeymoon in the Sierra.
Perhaps just a romantic campfire legend? The real story
might never be reconstructed. Eyewitnesses are gone, memories lost,
records destroyed. Personal tragedy was soon forgotten amidst
the global catastrophe of World War II.
Who were the Rettenbachers mentioned on the plaque? Where did they come
from? What happened to them? Why were they buried deep in the wilderness,
and their bodies never returned to their families?
Why hadn't their deaths been recorded in the California Death Index
or even mentioned in California newspapers of July 1934?
Could anything helpful be found in the Mammoth Lakes Ranger Station's
logs, or in Sierra Club peak registers for Ritter and Banner from
that era? When was the plaque placed on the grave? Did the Rettenbachers
come to the mountains solo, or as a part of a larger organized group?
What happened to their belongings?
The report is organized in fifteen chapters, followed by
extensive footnotes, two appendices, and a list of people
who helped in the research. The main body of the document
was written between October 2004 and February 2005.
(Photo by
Alan Ritter,
reproduced with permission).
This puzzle has many more pieces. Most of them will probably never
be found. It might,
however, be possible to reconstruct some of what took place.
Check the following pages to learn a bit more
about the Rettenbachers. The story is not only about them, but also about
other people who were touched by this tragic climbing
accident: a legendary Sierra mountaineer, several National Parks and Forest
Service rangers, a renowned San Francisco area family…