[pct-l] Missing Hiker

[mctrob at yahoo.com (Rob Langsdorf)]

Duane,

    Do you know anyone who has specific details about where
they are training? I believe that they should be looking
down slope from shaded areas of the trail. I suspect that
Seabreeze probably hit an icy spot on the trail and shot
down slope several hundred feet.

    The reason I suspect this is that something similar has
happened to at least 4 people on Mt. Baldy during the past
2 years. The two that fell two years ago were both killed.
The one I knew went about 600 feet before he hit a tree. I
don?t recall the details of the other, except that he was
on a ridge trail similar to the fuller ridge. Both that
year were hiking on trails

    The two who fell this year thought they were going to
glissade down a snow covered slope, but it turned out to
have ice under a surface of fresh snow. One went about 600
feet and managed to slow down on softer snow and by hitting
small bushes that slowed him further before he got to the
trees. He was hiking with me the next day and was bruised,
but otherwise OK. 

    The final climber was RJ Secor, the author of ?The High
Sierra: Peaks, Passes and Trails.? He started to glissade
and wasn?t able to slow down. Lost his ice axe some where
along the route of his 1000 ? 1500? descent. Fortunately he
was dropping down into the Baldy Bowl and there was a group
of rescue types training at the Baldy Ski Hut who saw him
fall. The called for help and he was helicoptered out
within 4 hours. His injuries were major, but he is going
through rehab now. Your can read about the latest on RJ at:

http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewtopic.php?t=507

    All of this to say I suspect that Seabreeze hit an icy
patch. Since he didn?t have anything to stop his descent he
could have gone quite a ways before something stopped his
descent. So just checking close to various trails probably
isn?t going to turn up much. Let?s continue that he is
found somewhere else, alive and well.

                Rob

-------------------------------------
Shutterbug steiner shutterbugg313 at yahoo.com 
Fri Jul 29 22:02:37 CDT 2005 wrote:

Not that I have heard - it sounds like Riverside SAR are
doing regular training exercises in the area with the hope
of finding a clue..
 
D

Diane Ely <mazdagal at hotmail.com> wrote:
Have there been any developments regarding the missing
hiker who was last 
seen near Fuller Ridge?




		
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