A distress call triggered a rescue on Southern California’s Mount Baldy. What awaited crews after dark was unthinkable

A rescue crew received a call at around 11:30 a.m., Dec 29, in San Bernardino, California. A hiker was reporting the fall of their 19-year-old friend, who had fallen 500 ft down the remote mountainside of Mount Baldy.

CNN reports that Mount Baldy rises more than 10,000 feet east of Los Angeles. Apparently, one of the hikers had to go up to an area where he could get cellular service so he could give the rescuers their exact GPS. As the rescue team headed up the mountain to pull out the young men, conditions gradually worsened.

In situations such as this, time is of the essence. While there have been cases where survivors have held on in harsh conditions — with one occasion having a survivor waiting out 5 days at the bottom of a ravine behind his wheel after an accident, and another occasion having a 77-year-old man survive 3 days in another ravine, this time in France, with nothing but a bottle of wine to ration during the torturous days — the fact remains these rescues are usually largely dependent on the conditions, especially when hiking on unfriendly terrain.

The San Bernardino rescue crew finally arrived at the location of the hikers via helicopter. Reportedly, they quickly spotted the injured hiker and two other people. However, strong winds prevented the crew from safely landing or even going lower.

The crew had no other option but to wait out the winds for several hours. Even then, a second attempt to land proved unsuccessful because the winds would not let up at that high altitude, where they flow without anything blocking their way.

It was not until 7:30 p.m. that the crew was able to hoist down a medic to tend to the hikers. Unfortunately, the medic was met with the bodies of the three, who had passed away due to the harsh conditions atop the mountain. The sheriff opted not to release the identities of the young men and instead reached out to their families with the sad news, in a bid to preserve and respect their privacy. At this moment, their exact cause of death is still unknown to authorities, but warnings about hiking at this time are expected to be issued.

It goes without saying, but right now Southern California is experiencing really strong winds. Some isolated gusts have even been reported to reach as high as 70 mph. Three years ago, in that very location, Leaving Las Vegas and A Room with a View star Julia Sands also went on a solo hike in Jan 2023. He went missing soon after. A search for him slowly morphed into a search for his body — it concluded 5 months later when rescue crews finally found his body.

If you have to go hiking in Southern California in these conditions, ensure all your local authorities give you professional tips on what to do and what not to do. Or better yet, just wait out these strong winds.