Three hikers found dead on southern California’s Mount Baldy | California
A man and two of his friends died after high winds prevented rescuers from responding to a report of an injured hiker near a mountain trail in Southern California, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.
The three bodies were discovered Monday evening along the Devil’s Backbone trail on Mount Baldy, which rises more than 10,000 feet 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 the films A Room with a View and Leaving Las Vegas, was reported missing after going for a walk alone in January 2023. His body was found five months later.
In January 2023, the month Sands disappeared, 15 more hikers either got lost, were injured or died on the mountain.
The department said it received a call around 11:30 a.m. Monday from someone reporting that their 19-year-old friend had tumbled 150 meters down a remote mountainside. The caller had gone to an area with cellular service and given GPS coordinates to rescuers.
The helicopter crew located the injured hiker and two others, but strong winds prevented the plane from landing. The second landing attempt, made hours later, also failed due to wind.
A doctor was eventually removed from the helicopter and found all three people dead around 7:30 p.m., the sheriff’s office said. Their identities were not released as of Tuesday and the cause of the deaths was not immediately known.
That same day, the San Bernardino sheriff’s department announced that it had rescued two hikers (two men, ages 18 and 31) from another trailhead on Mount Baldy. One of the hikers was injured after falling more than 100 feet off 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 turned the wrong way, got lost and were unable to continue moving up the mountain. Everyone was rescued uninjured.
