Official "People falling in Eaton Canyon" thread

[Teejate]

Just today.
One dead...one injured.
17 years old.
Like everyone else here I'm sure, I'm all about personal responsibility on the trail. But SOMETHING has to be done by the Forest Service to stop people who are over-confident and under-experienced from these types of tragedies.
More and bigger signs? A $1,000 fine for anyone caught heading to the falls? Fences?
Saddens me on one hand and pisses me off on the other.

http://www.kcet.org/living/travel/socal ... anyon.html

[Dragon]

I can totally relate to your angry depression. Incidents like this are totally avoidable which I believe makes it ever worse. If only these damn city slickers would know what it is they are getting themselves into instead of ignorantly injuring or killing themselves. You can't just go for a walk in the woods with your head in your arse; you have to be aware of the dangers that you are surrounded by. Another way of looking at events like this is it is just Darwinian evolution hard at work eliminating the dumb out of the species; it is still sad and completely avoidable though.

[cougarmagic]

It makes me sad that the people who pay for their lives are usually the ones 'talked into' going. Ones who probably had reservations about it, but had someone telling them it would be OK.

[shreddy]

I assume another one up above the falls? Airlifted for a broken nose:

http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/03/one ... -nose.html

[HikeUp]

I assume another one up above the falls? Airlifted for a broken nose:

http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/03/one ... -nose.html

Per NBC...

On the day a girl who died in a hike in the San Gabriel mountains was remembered at a memorial service, two women had to be rescued after falling on the same trail.

Rescue crews worked on Saturday to rescue the women on the Eaton Canyon trail.

One woman in her 40s fell at the first waterfall at Eaton Canyon Park, said Lisa Derderian, a spokeswoman with the Pasadena Fire Department.

She had a minor nose injury and felt dizzy, so search and rescue crews called in a helicopter to hoist her out.

At same time, a call came in of a woman in her 20s who hurt her ankle closer to the Nature Center and parking lot.

She was taken to a hospital.

One was at the first waterfall. Assume what you want - whether she wasn't or was trying to get to the second falls.

Another was near the parking lot. No dangerous ridges there.

[HikeUp]

Sounds like maybe some canyoneers are missing in Eaton?

Story.

Rescuers search for missing hikers in Eaton Canyon
By Brian Day Staff Writer
twitter.com/sgvcrimesgvtribune.com
Posted: 04/05/2013 09:32:54 AM PDT
April 5, 2013 4:34 PM GMTUpdated: 04/05/2013 09:33:51 AM PDT


ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- Search and rescue officials searched Eaton Canyon Friday in response to a report that five hikers who headed into the area for a day hike and rappelling trip Thursday morning never returned, authorities said.

Los Angeles County sheriff's officials received a call about 7 a.m. Friday from a man reporting that his daughter had gone to Eaton Canyon with four others about 8 a.m. Thursday, Sgt. Booker Hollis said. They never returned from what was planned to be an eight-hour outing.

The hikers were all believed to be in their mid-20s, the sergeant said.

Flights by search helicopters were limited due to fog in the area, he said. Rescuers on the ground were focusing their search in the area of the waterfalls in Eaton Canyon, where mishaps are common.

My highllights.

[AW~]

Sounds like maybe some canyoneers are missing in Eaton?

All found safe
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 34251.html

[Hiker Phil]

Sounds like maybe some canyoneers are missing in Eaton?

All found safe
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 34251.html

It was a misunderstanding

http://www.sgvtribune.com/breakingnews/ ... ton-canyon

[VermillionPearlGirl]

Today on KPCC, on Larry Mantle's show, they discussed people falling in Eaton Canyon. Just general interest -- should there be a sign, should it be patrolled by officers, all that stuff. They also noted that they assume rescues cost money but I'm pretty sure that's not true.

[HikeUp]

http://zev.lacounty.gov/news/fatal-attr ... -the-falls

I'm gonna quote the whole article and bold some items just cause I feel like it...

Fatal attraction at the falls

May 2, 2013

It was late in the day when several twentysomething hikers happened upon veteran Los Angeles County rescuer Richard De Leon. Next to him was another young man, whose broken body had just been retrieved from the rocky floor of Eaton Canyon.

“Where you coming from?” De Leon asked the group, knowing all too well the answer.

“The second falls,” they confirmed. “But we’re fine.”

De Leon motioned to the man now being photographed by coroner’s officials. “So was he about an hour ago.”

The hikers assured De Leon they weren’t like that guy. “We know what we’re doing,” they insisted.

“So did he,” the rescuer said, hoping to drive home his point but knowing that he might as well have been lecturing the rocks.

Every day in the mountains above Pasadena, this sense of youthful invincibility collides with a stretch of treacherous terrain that leads to a waterfall tucked into Eaton Canyon. Unlike an easy hike that starts at the county-operated nature center and ends at a lower waterfall, there’s no trail to speak of to reach the upper falls—just an obstacle course of crumbling rock, tree limbs and narrow ridgeline paths with sheer cliffs on both sides.

In just the past two years, five people have fallen to their deaths there, the most at any single site in the county’s sprawling recreational landscape. The most recent, in March, was a 17-year-old Alhambra girl, who was a standout in academics and athletics. Already accepted to Cornell and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, high school senior Esther Suen sustained fatal head injuries after she plunged 200 feet. A teenage companion also fell, but he survived.

Although the problem is not new, De Leon, who is team captain of the Sheriff’s Department’s search and rescue team in Altadena, says the frequency of people being stranded and injured is on the rise because of social media postings that draw inexperienced hikers to the place and the destruction of other Angeles National Forest trails from the massive Station Fire a few years back.

“By the second or third rescue of the day,” De Leon says, he gets frustrated with the risk takers. “I start thinking, ‘Will you people just stop!’ ”

How to get them to do that, however, has turned into a test of competing strategies and wills among the government agencies that share responsibility for the area, including L.A. County and the U.S. Forest Service, which is responsible for the wilderness land that hikers use to reach the second waterfall.

In 2011, a series of multi-jurisdictional meetings were convened that included representatives from Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich’s office, the county’s parks and sheriff’s departments and the Pasadena fire department. From that effort came an online public service announcement featuring four uniformed sheriff and fire officials, who stressed that getting to the second waterfall “isn’t worth losing your life.”

But many at the table had wanted more. Some in the law enforcement contingent wanted to start charging reckless hikers for the substantial costs of rescues. Others suggested fencing off access points. At a minimum, though, most everyone agreed that the forest service should post a strongly worded warning sign where hikers, who’d easily reached the first waterfall, begin the mile-long trek to the second one. That is, most everyone except the forest service.

Ranger Mike McIntyre, who oversees the area, told the group that forest service lawyers wanted no warning signs placed on the agency’s land, in a spot where there’s not even a trail. Doing so, he said, could open the forest service to legal liability; attorneys representing injured hikers might argue that, if agency officials knew there was a risk of injury, then they had an obligation to make the area safer.

Now, in the wake of Suen’s death, the group is headed back to the table, this time with an even greater urgency to push the forest service to act, especially with the busy summer season approaching—or, as the Los Angeles Daily News put it in a recent editorial calling for better signage and more patrols at Eaton, the “dying season.”

Said Sussy Nemer, a senior deputy to Antonovich, whose district includes Eaton Canyon: “We’d like to see all the county agencies and the City of Pasadena work with the forest service to increase the signage near the second waterfall and put in place some kind of physical barrier to prevent hikers from even getting up there.”

Nemer said her office also hopes to recruit the area’s new state and federal elected representatives, “who could serve as allies in our cause.”

Russ Guiney, the director of the Los Angeles County’s Department of Parks and Recreation, said he’s under no illusion that more warning signs or even a fence would end the risky adventurism that’s luring the mostly younger crowds to dangerous heights. But like the county’s warnings signs in the lower canyon, he said, it might stop some in their tracks, which would represent a significant contribution to life and limb.

“I think if I was the forest service, I would want to do more,” Guiney said. “I’d think we had a moral obligation. Certainly, we in the county feel that we have a moral obligation….What people deserve and expect is a fair warning.”

Guiney also said that his office would continue to monitor—and counter—such social media sites as YouTube and Yelp, where people have romanticized the second waterfall and downplayed the dangers.

Forest service ranger McIntyre said in an interview that, at the moment, he doesn’t foresee a shift in strategy from his agency. “We’re doing what our lawyers are telling us to do,” he said.

People mistakenly come to Eaton Canyon thinking it’s an urban park, along the lines of Griffith Park, he said. “But the forest is a wildlands area,” he said. “I’m not saying the forest is dangerous but it comes with inherent risks. We need to make people better prepared, and they need to know their limits.”

Michael Leum, who oversees all of the Sheriff’s Department’s search and rescue teams, says to count him among those who’d like to see the forest service take a more active role in Eaton’s safety issues and not treat them “like Kryptonite.” Since the forest service says it has no trails beyond the first waterfall, Leum said, “they believe there is no need for maintenance or signage, regardless of the fact that hundreds of people go up there.”

Leum said that if he had his way, he’d want the agency to “install safe ingress and egress into the area.”

The status quo, he said, only guarantees this: “People are going to get hurt and killed in that canyon.”

I think this is "the county's warning sign" mentioned in the article...

[Hikin_Jim]

Hermit Falls has been seeing some action too lately:


HJ

[tekewin]

I am fascinated by this "death hike" so I thought I would share the research I did on it today.

First, I could not find a GPS track of the "razorback trail" that leads to the second waterfall. I started with a track to the first waterfall, then used Google Earth to zoom in on the area and find the trail, which I have highlighted in blue. I added comments to it based on watching many youtube videos of people making the climb.



This a short hike, less than a mile off the normal trail, but is very dangerous. It starts with what looks like class 3 climbing up the ridge, not so bad. Then, it veers right before the top and goes along a cliff with severe exposure. It looks like there is one class 4 move around a rock, but you are exposed to 100' drops into the canyon along the entire cliff section. At the end is a steep drop off where most people use a rope placed by someone else tied to a tree.

I looked carefully on Google Earth for a better way down by continuing up the ridge, then coming down from higher up the canyon. However, there did not appear to be any safer or less steep drops into the canyon from this approach.

I think it would be better to treat this as a mountaineering or canyoneering adventure as documented here:

http://www.maximumadventure.net/2012/06 ... aterfalls/

I do think I could make the climb on razorback ridge, but I don't think it is worth the risk. If I was going to do it, I think I would look for a safer way. I have no idea if people return the same way or come down the canyon to get out. I could not find that documented anywhere.

I also think it is ridiculous to see amateurs jumping 50ft from the cliff into the second waterfall pool. Maybe I was that foolish in my 20s. I like to think I wasn't. No wonder so many people get hurt attempting this without preparation.

[Hikin_Jim]

Interesting info; thanks for posting it. I've never been interested in pursuing the route. There's just something about "falling to one's death" that persuades me to hike elsewhere.

HJ

[tekewin]

Interesting info; thanks for posting it. I've never been interested in pursuing the route. There's just something about "falling to one's death" that persuades me to hike elsewhere.

HJ

I hear ya. The death part is a big turn off. Maybe it is social media that gets kids out there and over their heads. The sheer number of rescues and injuries merits attention. I think the forest service is doing what it it thinks is best.

They made a PSA and requested that the Modern Hiker blog remove references to the route and add severe warnings. They may have reached out to other blogs as well.

[Taco]

I've done it a bunch of times. It's loose, and steep on both sides for a while. Not worth looking at. Would be nice if it was destroyed.

[Sean]

I read this post at Modern Hiker. I'm not very familiar with Casey Schreiner's blog, so I might be missing something of his opinion and context. But he seems to be blaming the concept of "urban wilderness" for such problems as those seen in Eaton Canyon.

The phrase being used in the media to describe this latest threat to our safety and existence is “Urban Wilderness.” Because these canyons are usually only a few minutes away from a 7-11 or In-n-Out, they say, to inexperienced hikers they seem to be safe and controlled environments and not the untamed wilds. Those who don’t have much wilderness experience may expect the trails to be some sort of outdoor Disney Land – maintained, free from every danger except sunburns, and constantly patrolled by well-paid rangers in sparkling uniforms. They then come out onto the trails without the proper gear or preparation, take risks they shouldn’t, and quickly get themselves in over their heads.

He then continues with some possible ways to combat this concept.

Frankly, I don't see the wisdom in this view. It assumes that some inexperienced hikers are so idiotic that they cannot see with their own eyes that they are engaging in risky behavior. And apparently such people have achieved such stupidity simply because the wilderness exists too closely to the city. This notion doesn't make sense to me.

First of all, I don't subscribe to such a negative view of humanity. Sure, a few people are total morons when it comes to hiking. But it's not because of "urban wilderness." It takes years and years of poor schooling and parenting to raise such monumental idiots. And you're not going to cure these sorts of their recklessness by blaming something other than them for their own dumb behavior.

Second, I'm positive that most Razorback Trail hikers in Eaton Canyon know very well that they are risking injury or death, and that is part of the thrill for them. They aren't morons. Maybe they are thrill-seekers who value their lives a little less than they should. But that, of course, is for them to decide.

Third, let's maintain some context here. According to the Modern Hiker post, five people have died in Eaton Canyon within the last two years. That doesn't seem like a lot to me, considering how many people take the Razorback Trail every week. Yes, it's tragic when some teenager dies up there. But do we really think an oxymoron like "urban wilderness" can explain it?

[AW~]

Frankly, I don't see the wisdom in this view. It assumes that some inexperienced hikers are so idiotic that they cannot see with their own eyes that they are engaging in risky behavior. And apparently such people have achieved such stupidity simply because the wilderness exists too closely to the city. This notion doesn't make sense to me.

From what Ive seen, its true, but not for the reasons Modern Hiker says. They do bring the 'urban' to the route, but the 'urban' they bring is their approach to the obstacles and the area. Thus recently someone thought they just made that slope traverse easier by installing bolts in crap rock If they just got rid of this stuff thats supposed to make it safer, it would be safer because very few would attempt it.

[fortified]

From what I see most of the people that have tragic endings here are inexperienced and young. The razorback starts off mildly difficult. by the time it gets dangerous, going back down does not look very easy either. I did this route once when I was 13 years old. I was tagging along with my older brother and his friends. I was 1/4 of a second from death. My grasp slipped, and I began a backwards fall. Remembering the rule they set out earlier, "If you are falling, don't take anyone with you". I just quietly knew I was dead. My brother happened to have a firm grasp of a small tree trunk, and saw me through the corner of his eye. He took his free hand and slammed me back to verticle
The Panic I felt as an complete inexperienced hiker, I knew I would not make it with and froze momentarily. If you have ever been in a position on a cliff where 100% pure panic of hanging on a death wall, you know you only have one option......focus on what you need to do, and you can worry about the fear later. Somehow I knew it was focus or death.
To this day 40 years later, whenever I hike, I always have enough room to fall, and have at least one chance of catching myself before it is a shear cliff.
I have had a strange desire lately to do that route for the second time in my life..........nawww.....fogetaboutit

[Herping Hiker]

Wow I thought climbing above dawn mine to see the upper entrance was crazy..These people really deserve anything that happens to them.

[Rudy Rodriguez]

I've done this hike too, like, 20 years ago. I won't want to ever do it again. Just not worth the risk, a second time. I agree it should be destroyed by ANF or something.

[cougarmagic]

http://altadena.patch.com/groups/police ... ured-hiker

Update 3:35 p.m.

The hiker is being walked out of Eaton Canyon by LA County Fire Department officials, County Fire Inspector Anthony Akins told Patch.

The helicopter and Search and Rescue efforts were cancelled.

The age of the male hiker and any possible injuries were not specified.

Update 3:23 p.m.

A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter is overhead at the scene, County Fire Inspector Anthony Akins told Patch.


County Fire officials reportedly made contact with the injured male hiker at the first waterfall, though the hiker was originally reported injured above the second waterfall, said Akins.

The age of the hiker and extent of his injuries are unknown at this time.

[cougarmagic]

http://altadena.patch.com/groups/announ ... -right-now

"AMRT responding to a call for two hikers stuck on a cliff up Eaton Canyon
by Tim on Jun 26 in Uncategorized
A call came out just before 7pm for two hikers stuck on a cliff up Eaton Canyon above the first waterfall. As more information becomes available updates will be posted. "

http://amrt.org/index.php/blog/entry/am ... ton-canyon

Two hikers were rescued from Eaton Canyon Tuesday night after they spent hours stuck on a ridge on the side of a cliff, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lt. Angela Shepherd said.

Around 6:30 p.m., the Sheriff's Crescenta Valley Station received a call about the unidentified hikers. Officers from Sierra Madre and Montrose police departments assisted in the rescue.

By 11 p.m., officers used a harnest to pull up the hikers, Shepherd said. "(The hikers) came really close to falling off."

No further details were immediately available.



Read more: http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_23543 ... z2XMACvmlu

[HikeUp]

More info on previous post...

http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/06/two ... teams.html

The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team, along with search and rescue teams from Sierra Madre and Montrose, rescued two hikers on Tuesday, June 25, in a complex technical rescue that lasted until the early morning hours.

According to a release from the Altadena Sheriff Station, members of the Altadena team were called out to a rescue in Eaton Canyon at about 6:36 PM. Two hikers, trying to find a waterfall, wandered off the trail at Acrophobia Ridge toward Power Line Trail. The release said that family members of the hikers contacted the Downey police department when the hikers did not return home, and Downyey notified the Sheriff's Department.

Montrose and Sierra Madre teams were called to assist at about 8:20 PM, according to the release, "as the position of the hikers was extremely precarious and dangerous. The expertise of all three teams was needed to handle the sophisticated operation that used harnesses to pull the hikers off the ridge and to safety. The operation ended in the early morning hours. There were no reported injuries. "

[cougarmagic]

One rescue today. though the news media has nothing on it.

06/30/2013 14:35 ANF-2907 Cliff rescue Search & Rescue Eaton cyn. at the first waterfall . . . . . 34.201 x 118.091

http://www.wildcad.net/WCCA-ANF.htm

[cougarmagic]

ALTADENA - Rescuers on Friday helped a lost hiker as well as her fellow hiker who was found unconscious by a trail in Eaton Canyon, officials said.

The incident started at 2:30 p.m.

Lt. Angela Shepherd of the sheriff's Crescenta Valley Station said the Altadena and Sierra Madre Search and Rescue teams located a hiker between the first and second waterfalls. The 20-year-old woman wasn't injured, Shepherd said.

A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter airlifted the woman.

Shepherd said rescuers then came across a second hiker who was dehydrated and unconscious. She said the 22-year-old man had been hiking with the woman and went to look for help.

The man was taken by helicopter to Huntington Hospital. Shepherd didn't know the man's current condition.

Read more: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci ... z2Zcl4xz95

[cougarmagic]

I'll probably not update this stuff after this one. It's just not that interesting anymore. Like, if I had a nickle for every mylar balloon I've found....etc.

http://altadena.patch.com/groups/police ... ton-canyon

A male hiker was rescued Saturday afternoon after falling from a trail in Eaton Canyon.
The victim who fell about 35 feet was airlifted just after 3 p.m. to Huntington Memorial Hospital, a deputy at the Altadena Sheriff's Station said. The severity of his injuries was not known.

Another hiker who witnessed and took photos of the rescue near the large waterfall said that the victim was not hiking alone.

"My boyfriend and I were hiking up and spotted the man about a hundred yards before the waterfall," the woman said, adding that the victim's friends were with him and he was "partially bent backwards over a rock, and his arms and chest were covered."

[Taco]

No joke.

[HikeUp]

More on CM's latest post...

http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/07/hik ... rfall.html

Eyewitness bitches about the "surprise" appearance of the helo, blowing stuff around and injuring bystanders...

It approached very quickly, and very low, and gave no warning bell or siren to warn the 50 or so people (including families with small children, and elderly) that they were approaching the popular destination. Suddenly there were rocks, branches, and debris flying very quickly, hitting heads, and one man whose back was gashed open. The dust made it difficult to breath and see. We ran over the rocks to get to cover and waited out the hovering helicopter. The injuries of those at the water seemed to be minor, but it's possible other hikers were injured from the wind and flying branches.

A few minutes later the helicopter returned, and lowered down a rescue worker to assist. It circled back a few times, making it dangerous to begin the trek back to the road, so the crowd waited out the rescue. It then came back and hoisted up the forestry service worker, and then later the stretcher with the injured hiker. These are what the photos show.

Upon reaching the exit at Crescent Drive, there were four fire trucks, and a new ambulance was just arriving, although it was 30 minutes after the hiker was lifted out. It is likely that it was for someone else.

And today's latest (I think the headline should read 7:36pm not am)...

http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/07/bre ... 36-am.html

And now I agree with CM's sentiment, enough of this.

Unless someone invents an original way to demonstrate their stupidty

[VermillionPearlGirl]

Yeah, I don't think most people realize how unpleasant it is to be under a helicopter until it happens to them.

[AW~]

Eyewitness bitches about the "surprise" appearance of the helo, blowing stuff around and injuring bystanders...

Classic LA exaggeration.....the best one I know is this dude driving in 'sigalert' street traffic was irate. The reporter tells him a person was shot and dying and he quickly says non-chalantly "This is just great!", sarcastically speaking of his own 'misfortune' that the person was being helped.

Not that Im immune to it. Im always cussing out helicopters that circle and circle seemingly forever now and then. Always hoping I have a laser pointer or guided missle to scare them off
"On Monday, June 10,2013 Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) will host a Congressional field hearing with representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), homeowners and helicopter pilots to discuss a recent FAA report on the problem of helicopter noise across Los Angeles County. Schiff and Congressional colleagues requested the report in order to develop solutions to the problem of excessive helicopter noise in residential areas. Homeowners have long complained of the disruptions caused by all sorts of helicopter traffic – from news choppers, paparazzi, tour operators and public safety agencies. The noise pollution emanating from these low-flying helicopters is concentrated to high decibel levels by the unique terrain of canyons and valleys in the County. The focused and concentrated noise drown out normal conversations and can disturb normal sleep cycles"