Body of missing hiker Tatum Morell has been found

GREAT FALLS – Rescuers have found the body of missing hiker Tatum Morell. She was found by climbers on Saturday August 21, under the Whitetail Corridor, according to a press release from Red Lodge fire rescue.

Morell, 23, a graduate student from Montana State University in Idaho, hiked the West Fork Trail, about 14 miles west of Red Lodge, on the afternoon of Thursday July 1.

Red Lodge Fire Rescue said a Two Bear Air helicopter and the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office helicopter worked with them and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office to retrieve his body from the rugged mountains. The recovery teams were greeted by his family and Red Lodge firefighters at the Red Lodge airport.

Rescuers believe Tatum was climbing Whitetail Peak when she was caught in a major landslide and was fatally injured. The area in which she was located had been searched several times by rescue teams. However, due to the fact that she was mostly buried under rocks, she was extremely difficult to find.

“After nearly two months of intensive search effort, we are relieved that she can be returned to her family,” said Deputy Chief Jon Trapp of Red Lodge Fire Rescue. “The efforts of volunteers to find Tatum surpassed anything I have seen in my 17 year search and rescue mission; it was absolutely amazing.

Tatum was an experienced hiker who planned to climb five peaks over 12,000 feet in the West Fork of Rock Creek near Red Lodge. She backpacked the area, camped at Shadow Lake on Thursday, July 1, and contacted her family via an InReach satellite communicator that evening. This was his last communication with his family. It is believed that she left her tent on July 2 and has not returned.

Red Lodge fire rescue

Rescuers began searching the area on July 5, focusing on the Silver Run, Whitetail, Sundance, Bowback and Castle Mountains. Rescue efforts included cell phone and InReach “pings”, searches for personal account information, mountain rescue teams, search dog teams, ground search teams, and visual aerial searches. , infrared, Recco and cell phone tracking.

The vast search area contained countless rock fields, car-sized boulders, scree fields and snowfields and some areas required technical experience and advanced knowledge of the hinterland. . The size of the search area and the difficulty of the terrain made the search extremely dangerous for rescuers.

Red Lodge Fire Rescue, the Carbon County Sheriff, and Tatum Morell’s family thanked all of the agencies and volunteers who helped with the search efforts.