A San Diego man was one of two killed in hiking accidents in Sequoia National Park this month, the National Park Service (NPS) said.
The NPS said Anton Dokov, 29, was hiking the Watchtower section of the Lakes Trail towards Pear Lake in Lodgepole on Sunday when he slipped on ice and snow and slid over a cliff.
Rangers looked for Dokov but eventually suspended their search due to dangerous ice and snow conditions.
His body was located the next day but rangers could not remove it due to the “complexity and technical aspects of the recovery,” the service said. Dokov’s body was retrieved on Tuesday.
The NPS cautioned that winter conditions still exist at higher elevations and said even the most experienced hikers can encounter dangerous challenges in the conditions.
Dokov’s death came just eight days after Eric Juliani, 29, of New Jersey, was killed while attempting to summit Mt. Whitney on May 5.
The NPS said Juliani was reported missing after he did not return from a solo summit attempt on the Mountaineers Route. Two hikers making their decent reported finding a trail of blood leading from two ice axes to a body about 1,500 to 2,000 feet below.
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Juliani’s body was recovered the next day.
Both bodies were turned over to the Tulare County Coroner’s Office.
