EISPIRATEN

SAR teams have been looking for a missing hiker on Baldy since Saturday. Not much information right now, except that Nic Sadler on FB says it was a man hiking solo. It seems he got caught in the snow storm.

Hiking solo at Baldy in a snow storm. Sounds like a great idea.

It's actor Julian Sands.

He's a British actor so it showed up on BBC news

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64327393

The stock photo of Baldy isn't of the bowl. Where was it taken from?

There's also a hiker missing near Mt. Islip.

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news ... mountains/

Hiking solo at Baldy in a snow storm. Sounds like a great idea.

I've done that.

Btw, I read that Sands is a fairly accomplished mountaineer. At least according to him. I guess he's climbed in the Alps, the Andes, etc.

Ironic that the diminutive Gabes may be his demise. It's easy to underestimate them, especially in comparison to the other more sexy ranges. I feel that happens quite a bit with folks. I find myself doing it. This a reminder to not do that.

Uncle Rico wrote: ↑There's also a hiker missing near Mt. Islip.

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news ... mountains/

Hiking solo at Baldy in a snow storm. Sounds like a great idea.

I've done that.

During one of the biggest storms of a given year?

Uncle Rico wrote: ↑Btw, I read that Sands is a fairly accomplished mountaineer. At least according to him. I guess he's climbed in the Alps, the Andes, etc.

Ironic that the diminutive Gabes may be his demise. It's easy to underestimate them, especially in comparison to the other more sexy ranges. I feel that happens quite a bit with folks. I find myself doing it. This a reminder to not do that.

That's it right there. Correct me if I'm wrong but most of the hikers who perish in the Gabes during the winter months are experienced hikers.
I don't know the circumstances of the hikers who recently died and gone missing, but I do know this, the Gabes can consume you if you don't respect them.
The Gabes are under-appreciated and underestimated due to their proximity to LA. I say this as a native Washingtonian. A lot of people who come here from other places thumb up their noses to the Gabes thinking they're not serious.

The mentality that you're not at risk on an easier peak because you've successfully bagged harder peaks is what I call "the hiker's fallacy."
At some point, every hiker falls into the trap of letting their guard down as they gain experience and accomplish more. The difference is those who recognize and correct it and those who don't.

Uncle Rico wrote: ↑There's also a hiker missing near Mt. Islip.

I created a separate thread for Bob Gregory.

Uncle Rico wrote: ↑Ironic that the diminutive Gabes may be his demise. It's easy to underestimate them...

He's also 65 years old, so maybe he had an age-related medical problem or just got dehydrated, exhausted and confused. Going solo is a big risk in such conditions.

They will probably find him on fallen from the backbone...

"Btw, I read that Sands is a fairly accomplished mountaineer. At least according to him. I guess he's climbed in the Alps, the Andes, etc."

He poked in some deep stuff, but still....I dont trust anyone else and neither should the searchers.
I would like the last 3 routes and when....yeah.
But apparently he left the searchers nada. Im 'sure' he just left it printed out back home, but had intended to have it.

I dont like how this season is going. It(searches) can only be what is reasonable and you dont want anyone pressured.
If there is no SAR available, then its shut down. Some people think that you arent going out with SAR, but you are...you cant go alone.
Dont need more people coming out with better weather and more searches.

According to the news his body was recovered. I'm curious where exactly he was found. Anyone have more information?

Rando reddit people say the recovery chopper was circling around upper Goode canyon after the announcement

Do you know if he was on the Ski Hut or Bear trail before falling into Goode Canyon?

I hiked Etiwanda Peak a couple weeks ago and heard choppers all day in the Baldy area. Now I know why.

Maybe he got disoriented coming down off the summit of Baldy, headed down into Goode by mistake. I've made similar mistakes coming off that summit in winter. In snow, all those ridges kind of look alike if you're not holding a compass and map in your hands. I don't want to be ghoulish or prurient, but it would be good to learn if there is some hazard or mistake that he succumbed to, which others can avoid. I would imagine the coroner would be able to tell if he was in some kind of violent fall or avalanche.

bcrowell wrote: ↑ ...it would be good to learn if there is some hazard or mistake that he succumbed to, which others can avoid.

Don't go up Baldy during a winter storm. Based on early photos from West Valley SAR, I'm guessing he went up the Ski Hut Trail. He probably became disoriented in the storm, couldn't see shit, and got lost. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Good Canyon. With zero visibility, you could easily get confused, drop into Good and succumb to the freeze or fall and hit your head or break something. After a winter storm years ago, I tried to cross Good from the Ski Hut Trail but turned around after postholing to my waist.

Was there a heavy storm going on the day he disappeared? I hadn't known that. I don't have any compunctions about going up there when all that's forecast is just a small amount of snowfall. It can be really pretty.

The media is always super bad at reporting relevant factors in climbing and mountaineering accidents. Their reporters don't have the expertise, and almost none of their readers/viewers care.

This accident seems to have really impacted people's consciousness in So Cal, but probably not in an accurate or productive way. People seem to have gotten the idea that Baldy in particular is a really dangerous mountain, when all that's really happening is that a large number of people visit it, so you get a proportionately large number of accidents.

According to the "Conditions on Baldy" thread on the Whitney Portal Message Board, Sands remains were found at 34.2778309, -117.6494619

Well, he could have ended up there from either trail. A long slide with an abrupt stop.

Gosh, that'd be the first place to look for a lost person on Baldy. Perhaps at the time snow quickly obliterated all trace of him ending up there.

RIP

bcrowell wrote: ↑Was there a heavy storm going on the day he disappeared?

Yes. He went up in the middle of a series of winter storms. A woman died on Baldy the week before he went missing. SAR initially had trouble looking for him due to the storm. The storms were so bad that they didn't find his body.

People don't die on Baldy because of statistics. They die because Baldy is dangerous, especially in the winter. People take many risks on Baldy--and sometimes they lose. Even a mild storm on Baldy is dangerous due to the risks of freezing, falls, altitude sickness and white out conditions.

Sean wrote: ↑ Even a mild storm on Baldy is dangerous due to the risks of freezing, falls, altitude sickness and white out conditions.

Sorry, just not buying it. A mild storm doesn't give you white-out conditions. AMS is virtually nonexistent at 10,000 ft. (The cabin of a passenger jet is equivalent to 8,000 ft. Studies have shown that when people think they have AMS symptoms at that kind of elevation, the frequency of symptoms is actually the same as at sea level.) The ski hut trail is never exposed enough to make for a significant risk of a fall, assuming you're on route. Freezing is not a more of a safety risk when there's snow falling than when there's not.

Of course people can go up with microspikes when conditions require crampons. Or they can use poles when conditions dictate an ice ax. Or they can lack map and compass skills, or have bad judgment, or be male and 20 years old, or...

And there can of course be serious avalanche danger in the bowl, as well as the possibility of human-induced rockfall. But neither of those risks is worsened by a mild snow fall.

"People don't die on Baldy because of statistics."

I didn't claim that they did. However, the frequency of accidents is proportional to the number of people who visit the area.

I don't know of any objective factor that makes a person's risk greater on Baldy than on a long list of comparable peaks in So Cal: San Jacinto Peak, Baden Powell, Iron, San Gorgonio, San Bernardino Peak. It's just that Baldy is close to urban areas and can be done by routes that are relatively short, so the number of people who go there is vastly greater than for any of the others.

bcrowell wrote: ↑...the frequency of accidents is proportional to the number of people who visit the area.

I don't think this is accurate. What numbers are you basing this claim on? It seems to me that more people hike Baldy in the summer with less serious accidents, while less people hike Baldy in the winter with more serious accidents. Baldy is more dangerous than other big SoCal peaks partly because of dangerous exposure on the backbones, dangerous rock and ice fall in the steep Bowl, and a poor, confusing trail on the south face, which is especially hard to follow in bad weather.

A link to a story...

https://deadline.com/2023/06/julian-san ... /#comments

A quote from one of the commenters...

John J Kang on June 25, 2023 9:34 pm

Was it a coincidence or what, the day after the family ‘s statement, we were hiking up Goode Canyon yesterday (Saturday, June 24,2023( and we found his remains.
The County Sheriff’s office was contacted and we saw a helicopter fly in in about an hour and they flew multiple helicopters in and retrieved his remains and belongs.
We met two Sheriff’s deputies at the Notch and he handed them Julian’s wallet and cellphone.