An Argentine tech executive, an enthusiastic climber, tragically lost his life earlier this month after falling thousands of feet on Mount Shasta in Northern California. Authorities reported he became disoriented on a glacier while descending from the summit.
According to a news release from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, Matias Augusto Travizano, 45, successfully reached the mountain’s summit on September 12 with two other climbers. Standing over 14,100 feet above sea level, Mount Shasta is California’s fifth-highest peak and the second-highest in the Cascade Range.
During their descent, Mr. Travizano and another climber veered off the established trail, finding themselves stranded at 13,500 feet on the perilous Wintun Glacier. Realizing their error, they attempted a controlled slide, or glissade, to rejoin the correct path.
However, Mr. Travizano lost control and plummeted approximately 2,000 feet down the icy glacier. He appeared to lose consciousness after impacting a large boulder.
The second climber followed, descending cautiously. As he approached within 80 feet, Mr. Travizano seemed to regain awareness and began to move.
“Tragically, this movement dislodged him from the rock, and he slid down the remainder of the glacier and out of sight,” the sheriff’s statement detailed.
At around 2:27 p.m., deputies received an urgent 911 call from the third climber, who had caught up with the second, reporting that a man had fallen down the Wintun Glacier and vanished.
After an extensive search lasting several hours, Mr. Travizano’s body was located near the base of the glacier.
Martin Varsavsky, an Argentine entrepreneur who had known Mr. Travizano for over a decade, described him as an avid and highly experienced hiker. They had plans for a December hike in Mendoza, Argentina.
Mount Shasta, an active stratovolcano, is a magnet for climbers, skiers, and hikers, but its slopes and glaciers are notorious for unpredictable weather, including sudden shifts in wind and storms. Mr. Travizano was on the Clear Creek route, generally considered one of the safer options. However, even on this path, climbers can easily become disoriented in poor visibility, leading them into more dangerous terrain, as highlighted by the sheriff’s statement.
A physicist and entrepreneur, Mr. Travizano resided in California, where he was a visiting scholar at the HuMNet Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. This lab focuses on human mobility and urban networks. He is survived by his wife, Kristen Durham, and their infant son, Kai.
His LinkedIn profile indicated he was the founder and managing partner of Sur Ventures, a venture capital investment firm. He also founded and formerly chaired GranData, a San Francisco-based company specializing in artificial intelligence, data, and privacy products, which he sold in 2024 while remaining an adviser.
Despite his life in the United States, Mr. Travizano maintained strong ties to his home country. He contributed to his alma mater, the University of Buenos Aires, and actively supported the government of President Javier Milei, even helping to organize Mr. Milei’s 2024 Silicon Valley tour.
Chris Carr, a seasoned guide and climber with three decades of experience on Mount Shasta, explained in an interview that disorientation is common just below the summit. Climbers can mistakenly stray from the plateau onto the glacier, which, after summer, is hard-packed and dry.
“This time of the year, it is common to get cloud buildup on the upper mountain and get disoriented,” he noted. “You can’t see your hand in front of your face.”
“There is nothing easy about climbing Mount Shasta in September,” Mr. Carr emphasized. “It is easy to get off route, you are in very treacherous terrain.”
Tragically, this was not an isolated incident; another hiker was found deceased in July near the 10,000-foot elevation, also off the Clear Creek route.