Three hikers found dead on southern California’s Mount Baldy | California
A man and two of his companions died after high winds prevented rescue teams from responding to a report of an injured hiker near a Southern California mountain trail, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.
The three bodies were discovered Monday evening along the Devil’s Backbone Trail at Mount Baldy, which rises more than 10,000 feet and is just east of Los Angeles, according to a statement from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
The deaths occurred near where actor Julian Sands died three years ago. Sands, who starred in A Room With a View and Leaving Las Vegas, was reported missing after embarking on a solo hike in January 2023. His body was found five months later.
And in January 2023, the same month Sands went missing, 15 other hikers became lost, injured or died on the mountain.
The department said it received a call around 11:30 a.m. Monday from a person reporting their 19-year-old friend had fallen 500 feet down a remote mountainside. The caller had gone to an area with cell service and provided his GPS coordinates to rescuers.
A helicopter crew spotted the injured hiker and two others, but high winds prevented the plane from landing. A second landing attempt a few hours later also failed due to winds.
A medic was eventually brought down from a helicopter and found all three people dead around 7:30 p.m., according to the sheriff’s statement. Their identities had not been released Tuesday and the cause of death was not immediately known.
The same day, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department announced it had rescued two other hikers – two men aged 18 and 31 – on another trail on Mount Baldy. One of the hikers was injured after falling more than 100 feet from the trail.
In October, three hikers were rescued near the same trail where the deceased hikers were found. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said three 20-year-old men were hiking near Devil’s Backbone when they took a wrong turn, got lost and were unable to continue moving up the mountain. All were rescued without any injuries.
