Members of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SAR) team have recovered the body of a man who fell while climbing Mount Humphreys.

He has been identified as 52 year old Paul Sheykhzadeh of Reno.  Sheykhzadeh worked as a doctor and volunteered as a SAR member for the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada.

Around 12:00 pm on Sunday, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office regarding a hiker, later identified as Paul Sheykhzadeh, who fell off some large boulders along the western slope of Mt. Humphreys (on the Fresno County side).  Mt. Humphreys is just under 14,0000 ft. in elevation.  A man with a different hiking group witnessed the fall and was able to scale the granite slope and determine the man was deceased.  After the discovery, the hiker made a report to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s helicopter, EAGLE One, flew the area late in the day on Sunday and was able to see the body a few hundred feet below the peak of the mountain.

On Monday, SAR put together a plan to inserts themselves and extract Sheykhzadeh from the mountain.  Due to the high elevation, a request was made to the California Army National Guard to use one of its CH-47 Chinook helicopters.  A total of seven FSO SAR members were flown to the top of the mountain and then rappelled 370 feet down to Sheykhzadeh.  They then hoisted his body up to the helicopter.

In honor of Sheykhzadeh’s service to Washoe County Search and Rescue, our team took an American flag with them and draped it over the victim at the recovery site. 


Contact Information

Tony Botti
Public Information Officer
(559) 600-8137
Tony.Botti@fresnosheriff.org