Nevada Backroaders

"Investigators believe Lafontaine’s Jeep got stuck in a ravine. Footprints in the snow indicated he was trying to walk out of the area for assistance, police said."

http://claycord.blogspot.com/2009/12/ja ... -mono.html
http://fugitive.com/archives/15929?utm_ ... tive+Watch)

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Eric
1997 FZJ80 land cruiser, front & rear lockers, 2" lift , 33" BFG MT tires, winch. No rock sliders yet.

What those reports don't state is the fact that LaFontaine left the doors and windows for his Wrangler at home.

He drove to Boomtown (in Verdi on I-80) in time for a swift moving storm that left some snow in the Reno area (and here in Winnemucca), but really hit Gardnerville and south into Mono County the heaviest. The region's temperatures have barely hit freezing in Reno since, but well below in most other areas. Since then (and about the time he died) highs have only been in the teens and lows well below zero in the entire eastern California / northern Nevada region.

Why he chose to turn up the road to Bodie, it being closed for winter at the time, I haven't a clue. Even if he made it to the Death Valley floor (his reported destination), a Wrangler without doors and windows would have been downright chilly. Anything above the floor of the valley would be brutal, as much of the area got blanketed by snow in storms since his being reported missing.

The only good thing to come out of this is that closure for his family came quickly. Not next spring when his body might have been found, or 13 years from now, as in the case of the missing Germans in Death Valley.

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D.A. Wright
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth.

I was in Bodie in February, just before noon, clear skies and a strong wind. The temps were at or below zero with the wind chill factored in. With no snow anywhere. So I can only imagine how miserable it can be there when it's actually getting bad weather.

It was nice not having to figure out how to get photos without tourists in them.

But he ignored rule #1 when you get lost, break down or get stuck and are out alone. Always stay with your vehicle.

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All Jeep trails had to first be Scouted.

1978 IH Scout II Lifted, locked, blah,blah,blah.
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Her car.
1992 Ford F350 XLT 4x4

Yes, it's best to stay with your vehicle, but where his Jeep and body were found was in a remote canyon branching off the main Bodie road about three miles in from US395. I am uncertain about the time frame between the time he pulled into the road to Bodie and then Bridgeport Canyon and the time searchers found the Jeep, but being in an open vehicle during a snowstorm the results might have been the same.

Depending how far he got down Bridgeport Canyon, if he was strong enough by the time he abandoned his Jeep, he could have sought shelter in occupied homes less than five miles away. The way he went, though, the distance to occupied homes was much farther.

His best course of action would have been to simply turn around and return to US395 and seek shelter in a motel or coffee shop in Bridgeport. But being in an open vehicle, hypothermia could have already been setting in and altering rational thinking.

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D.A. Wright
~When You Live in Nevada, "just down the road" is anywhere in the line of sight within the curvature of the earth.