Mount Baldy is one of 264 named peaks in Los Angeles County in Southern California.
If you live there and are the least bit interested in the outdoors and nature, you’ve most
likely been there or, at the very least, you’ve heard of it.
The weather in this particular area of the country is normally mild enough for the fit-minded
residents to often take to the trails and spend the day hiking.
Mount Baldy peaks at 10,064 feet and looms large over the skyline of Los Angeles.
People familiar with the mountain say it's normally no different than any of the other
popular hiking spots scattered throughout the area.
It’s a mix of loose sand covering over loose rocks that are all spread across the top of some steep slopes.
The main difference is the view from the top and it’s often said the one on Mount Baldy
is absolutely breathtaking and the best one out there.
It’s these majestic views that are said to be what make these steep slopes and rough
trails all the more rewarding once you reach the top.
There are some issues with this particular range though that makes it a bit more dangerous
than the rest.
For every thousand feet you gain in elevation, the temperature goes down by approximately
3.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
So, if it’s 90 degrees in the city, it’s about 57 degrees at the top of the mountain.
Given no other abnormal weather conditions, the summit of Mount Baldy will be 33 degrees
colder than it would be at the beach on any given day.
While this might be refreshing in the hot summer months, it would be considered freezing
to any human being but to California natives who are used to mild and hot weather most
of the year, at least during the day, it’s bone-chilling and off-putting.
In January of 2023, the average daytime temperature in this area is 63 degrees Fahrenheit but
when you factor in the fairly low temperatures at night time, the average temperature, in
general, is 52 degrees.
For most of the rest of the country, for the middle of winter, that’s actually not too bad.
There are several things that make this peak more dangerous than most but it seems as though
the terrain itself is the most hazardous of them all.
The trails are steep and the terrain is loose, making it extremely easy for even the most
experienced hiker to fall and risk serious injury.
The backbone of the mountain, so to speak, is granite.
The mix of this along with the sandstone, shale, and what can only be described as patchy
chaparral none of which clings to the other- doesn’t do anything to hold the soil in place.
Add in the jagged, craggy rocks that peek and poke through the already loose and gravelly
sand covering and it’s an accident or disaster waiting to happen.
Before we get to the missing person cases it’s important to address one more serious
issue with hiking on the mountain, specifically in the winter, and that's skiing.
There are 26 ski runs and 4 lifts that are located on the eastern side of the mountain.
So, when you take the cold weather, a terrain that is not only steep but also slippery,
and the high wind speeds - it’s a recipe for disaster for even the most experienced
and dedicated outdoorsman.
Even if this were a case where there was a very minimal amount of risk involved, when
you add in the almost 24 million people who live in southern California alone, deaths
and serious injury would be just as inevitable.
In fact, from 2017-2022 alone, SAR teams conducted 233 missions on Mount Baldy resulting in eight
fatalities and many serious injuries.
Julian Sands is a British actor who has appeared in dozens of tv shows and movies since the 1980s.
He is perhaps best known for his roles in the hit tv show 24 starring Keifer Sutherland
and movies like A Room With A View and Leaving Las Vegas.
He was born in England but moved to southern California in the 1980s.
At the time of his disappearance on January 13th, 2023 he was living in Southern California
and was 65 years old.
According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, when they checked his cellphone
records, it had last pinged in the Baldy Bowl area of the mountain.
Julian has been described as a dedicated mountaineer but recent winter storms on the mountain that
included snow, ice, and extreme winds have the sheriff’s department warning that the
conditions are “adverse and extremely dangerous”, even for the most experienced hiker.
The treacherous conditions have also posed a problem in rescue missions for not only
Julian Sands but others as well.
Julian’s last cell phone ping was on January 15th which was two days after he had been
reported as missing but after that, it appears as though it ran out of battery.
His car was located on January 18th but it yielded no further clues as to what could
have happened to him.
The Baldy Bowl Trail climbs 3,900 feet over 4 and a half miles and leads to the highest
summit in the San Gabriel Mountains.
There were reports of avalanches in that same area around the time that Julian disappeared.
A representative for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department stated, “The air search is being
resumed, but we have not been able to resume a ground search yet due to icy conditions
and a threat of avalanches."
Julian’s family put out a statement eleven days after he is said to have gone missing
that praised “the heroic search teams” and the efforts they made both on the ground
and in the air to try and bring Julian home; one way or the other.
Julian’s brother Nick was quoted as saying, “I have come to terms with the fact he's
gone and for me that's how I've dealt with it.”
Poor weather conditions severely hampered more searches on higher ground.
The California Highway Patrol’s Air Ops were even brought in to use their RECCO device
which is said to be able to locate and pick up on reflective material including, in some
cases, credit cards.
The RECCO device also picks up on RECCO reflectors often worn by mountaineers on their bags and clothing.
Helicopters have been grounded by the high winds and no other information has come to
light at this point.
As always we are praying for the family and will keep you updated as we can with any new
or pertinent information.
Julianiii--ain this month alone and the other man has recently been found- alive!
This hopefully will bring some hope to Julian’s friends, fans, family, and other loved ones
as well as to the investigators and SAR teams who are tirelessly searching for him as best
they could given the severity of the weather.
Jim Chung is a 75-year-old Los Angeles native who was reported as missing on January 22.
Jim had carpooled to Mount Baldy with two other individuals but is said to have separated
from them once they arrived; this was at approximately 6 in the morning.
The three hikers were supposed to meet back at the vehicle at two in the afternoon that
same day but Jim never showed up.
Once again a high wind warning prohibited the use of helicopters in an aerial search
but ground searches continued.
Jim was found on Tuesday, January 24th alive and somewhat well.
He was taken to the hospital with “weather-related injuries and a leg injury” according to
the sheriff’s department, but he was still able to walk on his own, along with rescue
personnel, to safety “with some assistance.”
There are no further updates as to what happened to Jim while he was there on the mountain
or how he came to be lost or sustain his injuries.
It seems as though we have a somewhat happy ending here.
On Sunday, September 4th, 2022 a 45-year-old Ontario man named Carlos Monay Garcia also
went missing on Mount Baldy and joined a long list of hikers who ended up missing after
trying to summit Cucamonga Peak.
Carlos and some friends were out for a day hike and for as yet unknown reasons decided
to separate from that friend on the switchbacks below the peak.
He only had two bottles of water and a bag of strawberries with him and when he didn’t
return at the designated time, was immediately reported as missing.
He had no headlamp, maps, compass, GPS, or phone and wherever he was, he was in an obviously
dangerous situation.
On September sixth the search for Carlos began and included numerous aerial helicopter and
drone searches along with field teams from across several nearby counties who began to
search the area’s canyons, trails, peaks etc.
There were 5 members of the RMRU who went by helicopter and went by helicopter to the
areas where they were assigned to formally conduct their searches.
Three of them, named Steven, Richard and Vinay went and searched along the trails between
BigHorn and Icehorn Saddles and then made their way up to Timber Mountain.
The other team consisted of the other two RMRU (that’s Riverside Mountain Rescue)
members, named Tobias and James, deployed to search the treacherous and very steep slopes
beneath the peak itself when Carlos was last known to have been seen.
Both teams reconvened and hiked out down Icehouse Canyon together.
They went to their motorized extraction point at the trailhead afterward but never found
any clues or evidence as to what became of Carlos Garcia on that particular day and the
efforts proved fruitless.
The next day on September 7th, RMRU was requested once again to respond to the OES callout.
Steve Rider, Matt Frenken, and Blake Douglas were deployed and assigned two areas, adjacent
to each other, on the northwest face of Etiwanda Peak which is described as, “a long talus
slope with many unknown obstacles.”
The men were informed that another team had covered the upper half of one of the search
areas but were unable to proceed because they lacked some of the necessary equipment like
rope and so the three men dispatched afterward made sure they had the proper equipment.
Despite a lengthy and arduous search effort, there was nothing found that would indicate
Carlos had been anywhere in the area.
It was as though he had disappeared into the ether, like so many others.
The RMRU then offered tips to hikers and in their own reports documenting their work and
search efforts, they mentioned a few things that should be noted considering the subject
matter of this video.
On April 6th, 2019 33-year-old Eric DeSplinter of Chino Hills, California, and 31-year-old
Gabrielle Wallace of Rancho Cucamonga went missing on Mount Baldy while out together for a day hike.
They were with a group of coworkers when they somehow got turned around and lost by themselves.
When they didn’t return as expected at 7 pm they were quickly reported as missing an
hour later by those same coworkers.
An extensive search and rescue mission was undertaken to locate the pair and a vast area
was covered that consisted of 19,000 acres that were very steep and covered in several inches of snow.
Eric and Gabrielle were found alive after five days on the mountain and their story
is quite miraculous.
A helicopter had to use a hoist rescue to lift them off and out of the mountain after
a search team in Cucamonga Canyon located two sets of footprints and then notified the helicopter unit.
The unit then spotted Eric and Gabrielle’s campfire.
Officials stated, “The search team alerted the command post and provided coordinates
for the Sheriff's helicopter, 40 King, to fly over the area.
The aviation crew spotted a campfire and could see two subjects and believed they were the
two missing hikers.”
The two were flown to the Mount Baldy Fire Station and reunited with their families.
Eric DeSplinter said of their ordeal, “We just lost the trail.
I had a little bit of a slip-on, going to the peak of Cucamonga peak.
Decided we wouldn't go back up the ice and snow, but that valley was more treacherous
than we thought."
When asked about how they managed to survive in the harsh weather and snowy conditions
he explained that they rationed their food and drank water through a Lifestraw.
A Lifestraw is a straw that purifies drinking water as you sip it.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department posted on Facebook that SAR teams have responded
to no less than 14 rescue missions on Mount Baldy in the four weeks preceding Julian Sand’s
disappearance alone.
They went on to say that the searches were, “for lost, stranded, and/or injured hikers."
Two of those ended in fatalities.
The sheriff’s office statement went on to say, “The recent storms that brought the
snow and ice conditions are not favorable for hikers, even those that feel they have
a high level of experience."
In an interview with the Yorkshire Post in 2013 Julian Sands was quoted as saying, “mountain
climbing and filmmaking are very connected.
There’s always another mountain, and ultimately the point of climbing a mountain is that the
mountain is within.
And I think that’s true, too, of the acting experience.”
Throughout the years there have been so many people who have disappeared under strange
circumstances throughout hiking trails and along mountain ranges all over the world and
many of them we cover right here on this channel.
Mount Baldy is no exception.
While most of the time it seems there could be something else underlying the disappearances
and deaths we see so often, at other times it’s simply Mother Nature herself that leads
people from all walks of life to their eventual demise.
Whether exploring some trails in the mountains of your local community or vacationing somewhere
deep in the wilderness somewhere, please- always remember to take safety seriously.
It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, no one is immune to disaster.
Sometimes no matter how careful you are, mistakes can be made and no matter how experienced
you are you could still end up in a desperate situation where your life is at stake.
What do you think about these cases?
Be sure to let us know in the comments down below!
But please, given the nature of our content - keep it friendly and respectful!
I'm your host Bob and I'll see you in our next video!