India- Justin Alexander Shetler, 35, Oregon native, survivalist, missing in Parvati Valley ('of Death'), 2016, "New initiative*

[dotr]

May 27 '24 rbbm

Family searches for answers after survivalist disappeared in ‘valley of death’

Dozens of travelers have gone missing in the Parvati Valley since the 1990s

www.independent.co.uk

''In 2016, Justin Alexander Shetler embarked on an adventure in India’s Parvati Valley, nicknamed the “Valley of Death.”

Mr Shetler, a travel blogger and survivalist from Oregon, notified his followers about the ambitious expedition in early September of that year. “I should return mid September or so,” he wrote on his blog. “If I’m not back by then, don’t look for me.”

This was the last thing he ever posted. Now almost a decade after he vanished, his family remains without answers over what happened to him.

The traveler’s story is receiving renewed attention thanks to a new ten-part podcast, “Status: Untraced,” which tells the story of Mr Shetler’s life and his family’s attempts to find him.''

''Mr Luxon, however, isn’t convinced Mr Shetler disappeared because he couldn’t survive in the region.
“Other people had passed him on the trail,” he said. “They said he was heading down and there was only one path going up and down.
“I’ve made the trek now, and it certainly seemed like he would’ve made it back to the camp. And again, this guy is a survival expert. It wasn’t like he was deep in the desert with no water and nothing around him for days.
“He should have made this trek. Nothing added up.”

 

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Book Review: Lost in the Valley of Death

“There is a world beyond that of our everyday physical, mental and emotional experiences. Beyond the five senses, and different from the realm of imagination. It is the world of the unseen an…

renegadeslogbook.com

''Across the Himalayas lie hidden valleys, called beyal, where the planes of the physical world overlap with those of the spirit world, according to Tibetan Buddhists. The Dalai Lama has called these, “sacred environments that are not places to escape the world, but to enter more deeply.”

One such place is said to be the Parvati Valley in the Himalayas of India, scene to Harley Rustad’s new non-fiction narrative “Lost in the Valley of Death.” Rustad chronicles the dozens of international travelers who have dissappeared into this so-called “Backpacker Bermuda Triangle” with a focus on an American man who vanished in 2016 under cloud of mystery and foul play.''

''Justin Alexander Shetler was born in 1981 to spiritually-minded parents who pulled him out of the American public schools as a teen and enrolled him in Wilderness Awareness School to foster his love of nature survival skills. (Damn cool parents.)

Like a narrative drug dealer, Rustad consistently passes the reader juicy nuggets of Justin’s backstory, getting us slowely hooked in. Justin continually reinvents himself, first as a national leader in wilderness tracking, later as a singer in a punk rock bank, and then as a high-flying tech entrepeneur who becomes dissallusioned with his life of luxury and quits at the age of 32 to travel the world.''

 

[dotr]

Curious case of missing US national and dead sadhu

www.mid-day.com

24 October,2016 Vinod Kumar Menon

''What's become of Justin Alexander Shetler? The 35-year-old US national was last seen on September 3 trekking through the Parvati valley in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh, and reported missing on October 3. Even more mysterious is that the self-proclaimed sadhu, Satyanarayan Rawat, who allegedly accompanied Shetler on the trek, and who was arrested on October 15 on charges of abduction and murder, was found dead in his cell last week.
Rawat was found hanging from the police lock-up grill by the drawstring of his loincloth. With the death of the prime suspect, the police are groping in the dark for answers to Shetler’s mysterious disappearance.''

''But according to the Manikaran police in Kullu, which is probing the disappearance, Rawat was last spotted hiking through the mountains with Shetler. The US national also reportedly met him in the caves prior to the trek.''

 

[Deleted member 83851]

Justin is also mentioned in the podcast Astray, about spiritual travellers missing in India or Backpackers Bermuda Triangle.