Tech CEO dies after 3,000-foot fall on Mount Shasta during descent

A tech executive and entrepreneur died after falling roughly 3,000 feet while descending Mount Shasta in northern California, authorities said. Matias Augusto Travizano, 45, a co-founder and former chief executive of GranData, summited the 14,162-foot peak on Sept. 12 and was descending via the non-technical Clear Creek Trail when two strangers joined him on the route, officials said.

Travizano wandered off the easy path and became stranded on the Wintun Glacier, which sits high on the mountain near 13,500 feet, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office. The trio attempted a controlled slide to reach a safer location, but Travizano struck a boulder about 300 feet below and was knocked unconscious for as long as about 10 minutes, witnesses told investigators. When he regained consciousness and moved, he slipped again and plunged over an edge, disappearing from sight. His body was found near the glacier’s base at roughly 10,200 feet by a California Highway Patrol helicopter crew, sheriff’s officials said.

The sheriff’s office cautioned that while the Clear Creek Route is considered one of the mountain’s safer trails to summit, climbers can become disoriented in low-visibility conditions, particularly when descending from the summit plateau. Once off the trail, climbers can wander into more hazardous drainages such as Ash Creek or Mud Creek, where accidents are more likely to occur, the department said in a Chronicle report.

Travizano was described as a trained physicist and entrepreneur. GranData is a San Francisco-based data analytics company he helped lead as co-founder and former CEO. He was named a government adviser in Argentina in 2024 by President Javier Milei and helped organize the politician’s first Silicon Valley tour; a group photo from that trip shows Travizano with Milei and Apple chief executive Tim Cook, according to reporting by the Chronicle. A mentee who wrote an obituary remembered him as “extremely warm, a great family man, and funny as hell.”

Mt. Shasta, part of the Cascade Range, rises to 14,162 feet. The incident underscores the ongoing hazards climbers face on the peak, even on routes considered among the easier options for ascent. The sheriff’s office and local authorities have long advised climbers to stay on marked trails, monitor weather and visibility, and be prepared for rapidly changing conditions on high-elevation terrain.