Tragedy as hiker couple, 28 and 29, who went missing near summit of California's 14,500ft Mount Whitney are found dead after 'falling' when they were separated from pal on 'extremely steep and icy' climb

Californian authorities have recovered and identified the bodies of two hikers who went missing while trekking up the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. 

Tulare County Sheriff's Office officials told local media on Thursday that the couple, identified as 28-year-old Andrew Niziol and 29-year-old Patty Bolan, were found after helicopter and foot search teams scoured the 14,500ft-tall Mount Whitney, in central California on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Niziol, who was from South Lake Tahoe, and Bolan, who had just finished adoctoral studies in physics at UC Davis, failed to report back to their camp at the Upper Boy Scout Lake, which lies east of the peak. 

They told fellow campers that they intended to climb up to the Notch, a small flat spot on the mountain often used as a resting point, before skiing back. 

Just one day before the couple, who were on a long-term hiking trip across California, were identified a friend of theirs revealed he had been climbing with them, but got separated on an extremely steep and icy part of the mountain. 

Ethan Michael Cannaert said that he expected to run into the couple, who he said were 'both experienced in the backcountry and had adequate gear for the climb' down the mountain, at the Notch. 

'I waited there for over an hour and was forced to move down the chute to escape the cold wind, but never saw them,' Cannaert wrote in a Facebook post on a group dedicated to Mount Whitney. 

The Notch is the final stop before a near-vertical stretch of the mountain known as the 'Final 400.'

Climbing down the Final 400 requires climbers to have specialized gear, given the icy terrain, or face doom as they fall potentially thousands of feet down the face of the mountain. 

While details on exactly where they were found are scant, local police revealed they were found at an elevation of 13,200ft on the north side of the mountain, while lies nearly a thousand feet below the Notch.

The exact causes of their deaths are still not known.  

In one of his final social media posts, Andrew wrote on Facebook: 'If I could go back in time and show 12 year old me what my life is now, I'd make myself so proud. 

'This is the kind of living I've dreamed about for 15 years. I've finally surrounded myself with people to share these types of experiences with and I couldn't be more thankful.'