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Search Continues for Missing Hiker On Mt. Baldy Following Record-Setting Storm
Search and rescue teams have conducted 233 missions since 2017, with eight fatalities, on Mt. Baldy, the highest peak among the San Gabriel Mountains.
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Richard Vogel
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AP
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A 22-year-old hiker from El Monte remains missing after she went on a solo hike on Sunday in the Mount Baldy area, the highest and one of the most dangerous peaks on the San Gabriel Mountains.
On Sunday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department received a call from a friend of Lifei Huang who went on a hike in the Mt. Baldy area at 2 p.m. Two hours later, no one had heard from her.
Officials last searched for the El Monte resident on Tuesday, despite the heavy rains and snowfall, to no avail.
Mara Rodriguez, public information officer for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, said current avalanche conditions on Mt. Baldy make it unsafe for the search-and-rescue team to continue their ground search for Huang. Since Monday, the sheriff's office has received a dozen reports of avalanches, she added.
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The search team is posted at several trailheads in Mt. Baldy for now and, if the weather permits, a helicopter search of the area will resume Thursday.
Three hikers were recently rescued after being forced to spend the night on Sunday on the Bear Canyon Trail on Mt. Baldy.
The hikers, who were described as experienced by the San Dimas and Sierra Madre Search and Rescue teams, were unable to find the trail at 8,200 feet after sundown.
According to a Facebook post from Sierra Madre SAR, the hikers were prepared with sleeping bags and a tent and the San Dimas SAR instructed them to hunker down until crews could continue their search Monday. After a four-hour hike in the rain and snow, rescue crews found the hikers.
Sierra Madre SAR said the hikers did many things right that night, including leaving their itinerary with relatives, being prepared with the right equipment and sheltering between rocks.
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Rob Klusman, president of the Sierra Madre SAR warns against hiking on Mt. Baldy right now.
"When the mountains get very heavy snowfalls over a very short period of time, the avalanche risk increases extraordinarily quickly," said Klusman.
He adds that it can be easy to get lost in the area especially after a storm. With constant natural avalanches happening, it's easy to lose sight of the trail or any tracks and the snow could cover trail markers, on top of the risk of getting hypothermia from the extreme weather conditions.
Klusman urges hikers to think twice about going out to Mt. Baldy right after a storm.
"The mountains will be there. You can come back another day, the mountain's not going anywhere. If it snowed a whole bunch, the snow's not going anywhere, it's gonna be there. Give things time to, settle and for the risk factors to go down, and then go out and and recreate in the mountains."
For those who insist on hiking in inclement weather, we've created this guide on how to hike safely during the winter.
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