EISPIRATEN

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/moun ... s-21309410

Los Angeles County authorities are searching for four mountain bikers who went missing over the weekend in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The men began their ride Sunday morning near Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest but failed to return in the afternoon as planned. Family members found their cars at a parking area popular with cyclists.

Sheriff's Sgt. David Shoemaker tells City News Service that the four — cousins between the ages of 28 and 38 — had no phone contact and weren't dressed for a cold night. Temperatures dropped into the 40s overnight.

An overnight ground and air search for the men was halted at around 4 a.m. Monday but authorities planned to resume it at daylight.

8:19am...I am watching a helo land just west of Mt. Lowe at spot 4910' shown here...
http://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.23505 ... 2&z=16&b=t

Good. they should be looking in Bear canyon.

Dang...had to do some work and now I don't know where the helo is!

Hard to get lost on a road, so they must have gone on single track (bear cyn., mt. lowe east, upper sam merrill, valley forge ((west fork)), etc.).

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Good. they should be looking in Bear canyon.

Hmmm...found...in bear canyon.
http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/12/sea ... ikers.html

Search and rescue looking for four missing bikers [UPDATE: Found uninjured]

by Timothy Rutt

The Altadena Search and Rescue team is still (7:30 AM) looking for four mountain bikers who went missing Sunday night.

According to a press release from the Altadena Sheriff Station, search and rescue was activated at about 7 PM Sunday when the bikers were reported several hours overdue from a bicycle ride from Mt. Wilson to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory turnout on Windsor Avenue.

The four men, ages 28-38, left for the ride from approximately 10 AM-3 PM Sunday. According to the press release, family members located the grouop's automobiles at the Windsor turnout. The release says that Montrose Search & Rescue team members were requested at about 9 PM. One sheriff's department helicoper aided in the search, which went on through the night until 4 AM this morning.

According to the release, other search and rescue teams will be requested and search aircraft resumed this morning.

The missing cyclists are from Glendale, North Hollywood, Rialto, and Sunland.

UPDATE: Watch commander Lt. Angela Shepherd said that the four were spotted in Bear Canyon by the helicopter, and were walked out by search and rescue. There were no injuries, she said. Scanner just said (10:08 AM) that they're in a van, warming up.

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Good. they should be looking in Bear canyon.

Hmmm...found...in bear canyon.
http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/12/sea ... ikers.html

Search and rescue looking for four missing bikers [UPDATE: Found uninjured]

by Timothy Rutt

The Altadena Search and Rescue team is still (7:30 AM) looking for four mountain bikers who went missing Sunday night.

According to a press release from the Altadena Sheriff Station, search and rescue was activated at about 7 PM Sunday when the bikers were reported several hours overdue from a bicycle ride from Mt. Wilson to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory turnout on Windsor Avenue.

The four men, ages 28-38, left for the ride from approximately 10 AM-3 PM Sunday. According to the press release, family members located the grouop's automobiles at the Windsor turnout. The release says that Montrose Search & Rescue team members were requested at about 9 PM. One sheriff's department helicoper aided in the search, which went on through the night until 4 AM this morning.

According to the release, other search and rescue teams will be requested and search aircraft resumed this morning.

The missing cyclists are from Glendale, North Hollywood, Rialto, and Sunland.

UPDATE: Watch commander Lt. Angela Shepherd said that the four were spotted in Bear Canyon by the helicopter, and were walked out by search and rescue. There were no injuries, she said. Scanner just said (10:08 AM) that they're in a van, warming up.

Trying to get to Windsor parking lot via bear canyon...on bikes...that would be an interesting TR.

AW should be able to dig up the real story in the coming weeks.

Sorry about the double post - user error. FAIL.

HikeUp wrote: ↑

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Good. they should be looking in Bear canyon.

Hmmm...found...in bear canyon.

Shoulda just asked me first, saved themselves the trouble!

From the Associated Press


Four mountain bikers missing overnight in the rugged and chilly San Gabriel Mountains were found safe and unharmed Monday.

The men, all cousins ages 28 to 38, were spotted by Los Angeles County sheriff's searchers around 8:30 a.m. in a canyon in the Angeles National Forest and were reunited with relatives.

"We just took a wrong turn and we were basically completely lost in the middle of nowhere," biker Christopher McCarthy told KABC-TV after an emotional reunion with family members who had waited through the night.

The men began their ride from Mount Wilson, a peak topping 5,700 feet northeast of Los Angeles, down to Pasadena at about 10 a.m. Sunday. But they failed to return by the planned time of 3 p.m., less than two hours before sunset.

Family members located the bikers' vehicles at a turnout parking area near NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Sheriff's search-and-rescue team members were summoned at 9 p.m. and unsuccessfully looked for the group until 4 a.m. The search resumed with aircraft after sunrise.

The men were on a trail that is 10 miles long and crosses other trails, making a wrong turn understandable, Deputy Dan Paige told KABC.

"We've never mountain-biked this trail before so we were very unfamiliar with it," McCarthy said.

The group decided to light a fire when they reached a campground in Bear Canyon, where McCarthy said he initially wanted to leave the bikes behind and try to make their way out to avoid spending the night.

"But the right decision was to set the fire and we gathered as much wood as possible," he said.

Overnight temperatures fell to the low 40s on Mount Wilson, according to the National Weather Service.

leave the bikes behind and try to make their way out to avoid spending the night.

THAT would be fail. They made the right choice. There are worse things than spending the night out.

HJ

Haven't looked at a map, but how would you find your way to the JPL parking lot (end of the Gabrielino Trail) from Mt. Wilson?

Augie,

Take a look at this map. It sounds like they got off on the red route. Bad idea. The green route would be a lot better.

HJ

Thanks Jim. Now I'm refreshed. The route from Eaton Saddle is basically the Mt. Lowe Fireroad and along Sunset Ridge down into Millard, onto the El Prieto Trail and back up to the parking lot above JPL.

They missed that big hard left on the fireroad and kept on going straight on the trail. Even had they kept going on the red route they would have had to contend with Oakwilde Campground no longer being there and the trail over the Brown Debris Dam apparently washed out so it would have been tough for them to get past the dam to Paul Little Campground and onto the Gabrielino Trail back out to the where they were parked above JPL.

Augie wrote: ↑Thanks Jim. Now I'm refreshed. The route from Eaton Saddle is basically the Mt. Lowe Fireroad and along Sunset Ridge down into Millard, onto the El Prieto Trail and back up to the parking lot above JPL.

They missed that big hard left on the fireroad and kept on going straight on the trail. Even had they kept going on the red route they would have had to contend with Oakwilde Campground no longer being there and the trail over the Brown Debris Dam apparently washed out so it would have been tough for them to get past the dam to Paul Little Campground and onto the Gabrielino Trail back out to the where they were parked above JPL.

From what I've heard/read, it would have been tough to get all that far past Switzer's Falls, let alone down to Oakwilde. But this is just what I've heard from a few newbies that couldn't navigate out of a paper bag.